LARGO, Fla. — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) has a mystery on their hands after a manatee was found dead in a canal in Pinellas County.
Neighbors in Largo told 10 Tampa Bay they saw the adult manatee belly-up Saturday morning with what they believed to be gunshot wounds on the animal.
"We saw this big grey mound sitting on this marsh over here and my wife said, 'What is that? That's not a rock. It's never been there before,'" said Peter Lang, a homeowner who first made the discovery. "I jumped in the kayak and paddled over, and sure enough, it's a manatee that's dead. It's on its back. It wasn't moving, and it looked like it had wounds all over it."
Lang said he called Largo police after finding the animal in the waterway. Once they got on scene, he said law enforcement towed it away with a boat.
While Lang sees manatees and wildlife in his community often, he said it's unusual to make such a discovery.
"They come in here to meet a lot because this is shallow water," he said. "There's a lot of plant life so they eat all that stuff, and we've seen them meeting here. We have dolphins here. We have mullets jumping all the time, so it's not that unusual to see manatees. But, I've never seen a dead one floating here."
FWC said it is investigating the cause of death, and Lang said he hopes it wasn't any of his neighbors who killed the manatee.
"If somebody actually shot one of these things, that's just horrible," Lang said. "They're so harmless, and they're friendly. They'll come up and put their head on your paddle board if you're out here."
As an investigation is ongoing, anyone with information is asked to contact the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC(3922).