Florida manatees face critical threats from watercraft collisions and cold stress that cause severe injuries affecting individual welfare and population recovery.
Boat propeller strikes cause horrific lacerations that may sever flippers, cause spinal injuries, or result in death. Injured manatees that survive often carry permanent disabilities affecting swimming and foraging efficiency. Cold stress syndrome causes manatees to congregate near power plant warm water outflows in winter; when plants close, the loss of warm water refuges causes mass mortality from cold exposure. Starvation from seagrass bed die-offs related to pollution represents a slow, prolonged welfare crisis.