2 dead manatees found in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Dead manatee removed.

Two manatees were found dead Wednesday in separate Fort Lauderdale waterways.

The badly decomposed body of a nearly 6-foot-6 female manatee was hoisted from a waterway off 10th Street and Andrews Avenue; another dead manatee was pulled from a canal just west of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said Liz Barraco, a spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The commission first received a call Tuesday night about the dead female manatee but was unable to recover the remains until Wednesday morning.

"She was pretty badly decomposed, so it was clear she had been deceased for some time," Barraco said.

A necropsy was performed but because of the condition of the body, biologists have been unable to determine a cause of death, Barraco said.

Reports of a second dead manatee came in around noon, Barraco said. Officials removed the body of a nearly 10-foot male manatee from a canal near a Florida Power & Light cooling lake.

Biologists will perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death, Barraco said.

"We have no evidence to believe these two incidents are linked," Barraco said. "It is hard to say how long they have been dead and if or if not this is normal."

Barraco urges boaters to be aware of manatee zones and to follow all guidelines.

"Manatees are endangered, and people should be aware they're out there," she said.

Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://bit.ly/1xcsdoI.