Manatee Death Captured on Video
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Courtesy of Flickr
A Florida resident captured the death of a manatee on video, which can be viewed online at WSVN News. Lance Irvine, the owner of a boat and jet ski rental company in Pompano Beach, thought he was about to witness the animal giving birth, but instead he watched the half-ton sea cow cross its flippers and pass away.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the manatee had been hit by a boat and suffered injuries including broken ribs and organ damage. Watercraft collisions have caused approximately one quarter of all manatee deaths since 1974, according to the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
To read more about manatees, check out “My Son, The Manatee” from the May 2000 issue of Outside. W. Hodding Carter goes in search of his adopted manatee—only to discover the injustices heaped upon these slow, fat and endangered marine mammals.
–Whitney Dreier