Florida manatees historically wintered mainly in southern Florida, with small groups at a few natural springs in northern Florida, but power plant construction along major waterways and the loss of natural habitat shifted their distribution so that winter herds now gather around 20 warm-water sources, including six natural hot springs. Lee County Manatee Park is managed by Lee County Parks and Recreation with support from Florida Power and Light, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Lee County citizens serving as volunteer naturalists, and civic organizations. Manatee fossils in Florida are as old as 1 million years, prehistoric native peoples in Florida used ceremonial pipes shaped like manatees and manatee bones, Christopher Columbus recorded seeing three manatees in 1493, early 1800s writers said manatees were remarkably abundant, and pioneers in the 1800s often shot them for meat, oil, and hides until Florida outlawed hunting them in 1893. The first reported manatee deaths from collisions with watercraft came in 1943. The Florida manatee, once thought to be the same as the West Indian manatee, is a subspecies of the West Indian manatee found in the Caribbean. Feeding or attracting manatees is illegal under state and federal law because human food can harm them and make them lose their natural fear, causing them to approach boats and docks and increasing the risk of injury. Protection efforts call for safe boating, observing manatees from a distance, not giving them food or water, looking but not touching while swimming or diving, properly discarding fishing line, hooks, and trash, volunteering to educate others, and reporting injured, dead, tagged, orphaned, or harassed manatees.

Buckingham, Florida · USA