SCI-TECH

Number of manatee deaths in Florida tops 800 this year

The Associated Press Published Saturday, December 21, 2013 5:25PM EST

Four female manatees returned to the wild

File: Members of the SeaWorld Orlando Animal Rescue team prepare to return one of four female manatees ranging in size from 400 to 775 pounds, to the waters of Eddy Creek at the Canaveral National Seashore park, Thursday, June 18, 2013, in Titusville, Fla. All four rehabilitated animals have been medically cleared for their return to their natural habitat by government agencies following months of rehabilitation.(AP Photo/John Raoux)

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The number of manatee deaths in Florida has topped 800 for the first time since such record-keeping began in the 1970s.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg says 803 manatee deaths have been recorded this year. That's about 16 per cent of the state's estimated population of 5,000 manatees.

Martine DeWit of the institute's Marine Mammal Pathology Laboratory tells the Tampa Bay Times that 173 of the dead were breeding-age females. It's unclear what effect these deaths will have on the endangered species' population.

The previous record for manatee deaths was 766, set in 2010 after a lengthy cold snap.

Scientists blame a massive bloom of red tide algae in southwest Florida and a mysterious ailment affecting manatees in the Indian River Lagoon for this year's deaths.