Manatee Found Dead Behind Miami Beach Home
MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) –A deadly discovery early Wednesday morning in the Intracoastal Waterway in Miami Beach.
Miami Beach police spokesman Juan Sanchez said just before 8 a.m. they received a call about a dead manatee floating near the Grand Beach Hotel. Officers located the manatee and a diver secured it to a dock behind a home in the 900 block of Pine Tree Drive.
Both the Florida Fish and Conservation Commission and the Miami Seaquarium were contacted about the discovery.
The FWC sent a biologist and the Seaquarium sent a veterinarian to check on the six other manatees swimming around the dead female's body.
"We had an adult female that was lactating pass away," said Dr. Maya Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said of the six other manatees, five were males and one was the dead female's calf.
"The calf that was with her was about seven feet in length," said Rodriguez, "and that makes a really large male baby."
Rodriguez said the female was probably weening the calf when she died.
"He is in good weight, he's obviously in a location where there's obviously good food," said Rodriguez. "Now the concern is he's also in a location where there is a lot of boats. But this looks like a resident population since we haven't had the migration yet."
Rodriguez said the calf should be fine on its own, but they plan to keep a watchful eye on it just in case.
The FWC said a necropsy will be performed no the dead manatee in St. Petersburg to determine how the animal died.
