ORLANDO, Fla. — Wildlife authorities fear another deadly winter for Florida’s starving manatees near Orlando and have returned to closely watching for a plunge in temperatures as a signal to resume emergency and unproven feeding procedures.
Last winter, the state and federal wildlife agencies fed 201,727 pounds of lettuce to manatees at the Florida Power & Light Co. electric plant south of Titusville on the shore of the Indian River Lagoon.
For decades, manatees have gathered there by the hundreds to shelter in the warm waters discharged by FPL’s power plant. Few of the marine mammals had arrived there by Tuesday.
