- Police bodycam video shows rescue workers helping to carry a beached manatee to safety.
- Florida Fish and Wildlife is investigating high rates of manatee mortality in southern Florida.
Police bodycam video captured more than a dozen people carrying a beached manatee to safety in Florida on Wednesday.
The video released by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office shows a manatee that had become stranded in Ponce Inlet, a town with a population of about 3,000. Florida manatees and bottlenose dolphins are the most common animals that are found beached in Volusia County, according to the Volusia County Marine Mammal Stranding Team.
According to the sheriff's department, rescue workers transported the manatee to the Sea World Rehabilitation Center.
In the statement, the sheriff's department said beach visitors should not approach or touch stranded animals and instead report them to the Florida Fish and Wildlife alert hotline at 888-404-3922.
The Volusia County Marine Mammal Stranding team and Florida Fish and Wildlife are researching high rates of manatee mortality along the southern coast of Florida, according to the stranding team's website.
"Marine mammal strandings are common along the Florida coast and occur when live animals beach themselves or dead animals wash up on shore," the team says on the website. "Many of the reasons why live animals beach themselves are unknown."
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 345 manatees have died in Florida so far this year. The number of manatee deaths sharply increased from 353 in 2020 to 832 in 2021.
In 2022, 614 manatees died in Florida, according to the commission.