Record number of Florida manatees starved to death in 2021

A record number of manatees died in Florida last year, according to a report released by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission this week. From January 1 to December 31, 2021, preliminary data shows that there were 1,101 reported manatee deaths in the state — nearly double the five-year average — with most dying of starvation.

Of the more than 1,000 deaths, 103 of them were watercraft-related, the state found, seven were crushed or drowned in flood gates and canal locks, and another seven were killed by human-related causes, such as poaching or rope entanglement. More than half of the deceased manatees were not necropsied or their cause of death has been undetermined. 

There are only about 6,000 manatees in all of Florida, nonprofit organization Save the Manatee previously told CBS News.