The Battle for Florida’s Gentle Giants Heats Up

With manatee deaths reaching 484 in Florida as of July 25, a legal battle over their survival is intensifying. The future of these threatened marine mammals is now in the hands of a federal appeals court, which is being asked to overturn a judge’s decision that would place a moratorium on new septic tanks in the northern Indian River Lagoon.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is appealing a ruling from U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza, who sided with the environmental group Bear Warriors United.

The group argued that sewage discharges from septic tanks contribute to the loss of seagrass, the manatees’ primary food source, and therefore violate the Endangered Species Act. Judge Mendoza’s ruling included a ban on new

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