Mutilation Of Endangered Manatee

On Friday, November 10th, local fisherman alerted rangers to a dead manatee on the shoreline of the Mowry Canal adjacent to park headquarters. The rangers found the remains of a young, 500- to 600-pound manatee with its throat slit and its flippers cut off. The animal did not appear to have any other trauma-related injuries. Rangers towed the carcass to park headquarters, where biologists from the Florida Wildlife Commission picked it up and took it to St. Petersburg for a necropsy. The park has established a tip line and the Save the Manatee Club has put up a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for this heinous act. Media interest has been extremely high.