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A sun-bleached skull, scattered ribs and the decaying husks of dozens of manatees sully the smooth tan sand on a handful of mangrove islands north of Manatee Cove Park in Brevard County. The emaciated remains, reported by waterfront residents or spotted by boaters, have been collected and dumped on the sandy outcroppings by state wildlife officers, turning these idyllic tropical settings into sea cow mass graveyards.  The smell of death owns the air. Vultures own the sky above as they circle what is quickly becoming an environmental catastrophe. The manatees are dying by the hundreds Up and down the Sunshine State, manatees, the gentle giants of the inland waterways, are dying en masse. They are, in fact, starving to death. The mangrove coves and canals that once were havens for the creatures are increasingly empty of them. Decades of conservation success have given way to jumbles of bones and rotting carcasses all around Florida.

Brevard countyUnited statesSankt peterburgIndian riverTampa bayBig bendMerritt islandCharlotte harborPinellas countyWinter parkFlorida bayIndian river lagoonSebastian inletDuane defreeseBob atkinsMalcolm denemark