Manatees face ongoing welfare threats from boat strikes, red tide toxins, and habitat loss despite conservation attention.
Manatee welfare involves multiple intersecting threats. Boat strike injuries cause severe lacerations and blunt trauma — many strikes that do not kill immediately result in slow death from infection. Red tide toxin causes neurological damage and death following exposure to algal bloom events. Cold stress syndrome forces manatees to cluster around power plant warm water outflows — artificial refuges that concentrate disease risk.