Hurricane Helene leaves manatees in Florida

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said its teams are responding to reports of manatees stranded after Hurricane Helene tore through the state last week.

Helene made landfall in the Florida Rim as a Category 4 storm last Tuesday evening, bringing with it heavy rain, high winds and flooding that also hit other southeastern states. The Associated Press reported that the death toll in Helene had reached 159 as of Tuesday, while search and rescue operations continued throughout the hardest-hit states.

The storm also wreaked havoc on wild animals in its path. On Monday, the FWC said in a post on its social media accounts that its biologists were working to save manatees – an animal protected under Florida law – that had washed ashore.

“Manatees may become stranded during severe weather conditions, such as a hurricane or tropical storm,” the FWC said Monday in a post on its Facebook page.

He added in his post: “While our top priority has been to help Floridians and visitors recover from the effects of Helene, we are also working quickly to rehabilitate and protect these gentle giants.”

Photos of the rescued manatees were shared by the FWC on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday afternoon.

Manatees are native to Florida and inhabit rivers, springs and coastal areas throughout the state. The Florida-based nonprofit Save the Manatee Club said in a statement on its website last week that it is working with its partners, including the FWC, to “actively” monitor the aftermath of Helene and its impact on the manatee population.

“As natives of Florida, manatees are well adapted to the extreme weather events in our state,” the release reads in part. “However, they face significant risks during severe storms. Storm surges can cause manatees to travel far inland into areas they don’t normally inhabit, where they can become trapped when the water recedes.”

The FWC urged the public not to attempt to deal with any orphaned manatees and instead call the state’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-392 to notify authorities of the animals’ location.

He added that “manatees stranded by storms may need immediate medical attention from wildlife experts.” Residents can report incidents of other injured wildlife to the Wildlife Alert Hotline or submit reports online via this link.

Newsweek on Tuesday, contacted the FWC for additional information via email.

According to a Sunday release from the governor’s office, the FWC unit deployed over the weekend as part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Operation Blue Ridge, a multi-state agency to support recovery efforts in North Carolina and Tennessee.

On Sunday, the FWC said in a Facebook post that Operation Blue Ridge “also aims to assist Floridians in need of rescue in western North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Tennessee Valley.”

“FWC stands ready to continue helping our neighbors recover from the impacts of Hurricane Helene,” the post added.