\u2018The culverts in this area are big enough for a manatee to safely swim through,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
There is a floodgate they normally would have had to navigate, but it\u2019s typically left open during Florida\u2019s rainy season which lasts from May through October.<\/p>\n
\u2018I grew up with manatees,\u2019 Bill Barnett, a Pembroke Pines resident who saw the animal told WPLG Local 10, adding: \u2018This is the first one we\u2019ve seen on the lake. I\u2019ve been here like 15 years.\u2019<\/p>\n
Another resident, Myriam Schenk told the outlet she had also witnessed the manatee.<\/p>\n
\u2018I saw the face and I said, \u2018What is this?\u2019 I started taking a video and said, \u2018This is a manatee!\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
According to Local 10, the lake contains fish and turtles but is not native to the manatee.<\/p>\n The manatee – Florida\u2019s official state freshwater mammal – is classified as a threatened species that is dying out because of a reduced food supply.<\/p>\n The reduction is due, in part, to algae blooms that are killing seagrass which serves as the main food source for the manatee alongside other vegetation like submerged and floating plants.<\/p>\n Manatees typically spend up to eight hours a day eating sea vegetation and can consume four to nine percent of their body weight daily.<\/p>\n Algae blooms, also known as harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Atlantic Ocean include phytoplankton can make the water cloudy and limit the amount of sunlight that reaches the seagrass, damaging the vegetation and making it difficult for it to regrow.<\/p>\n Some HABs are also toxic to manatees if they eat it, like the microalgae Karenia brevis which is common in Florida and caused the deaths of about 123 manatees between November 2022 and June 2023.<\/p>\n Outside of the winter months, the animals tend to travel around Florida\u2019s waterways to search for food, mates and a shallow place to rest, sometimes traveling dozens of miles to reach a new area.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, a separate manatee had traveled over 100 miles from the ocean to reach Lake Apopka in Oakland, Florida.<\/p>\n However, this is not the first time the sea cow was spotted in Pembroke Pines Lake, with another reported by the local police department in 2021.<\/p>\n At the time, the Pembroke Pines PD posted a video of the manatee and asked residents and visitors to \u2018be respectful of our native wildlife.<\/p>\n \u2018Under Florida law, it is illegal to feed, harass, harm, pursue, or annoy a manatee. Please enjoy him\/her from a distance.\u2019<\/p>\n State wildlife officers eventually had to rescue the animal because it was underweight and swimming erratically, but biologists told Local 10 that the lake\u2019s newest resident appears to be healthy and has access to plenty of food.<\/p>\n \u2018In this area, there is a lot of shoreline vegetation, which they’ll take advantage of,\u2019 Howell told BI, adding that there\u2019s \u2018absolutely no concern\u2019 for the wellbeing of this manatee.<\/p>\n