A manatee was discovered swimming in a Pembroke Pines lake, in the Cedarwoods community in Pembroke Pines, leaving residents shocked that the gentle giant made it’s way to the manmade lake on Friday, according to Local10 News.
“I saw the face and I said, ‘What is this?’” resident Myriam Schenk said. “I started taking a video and said, ‘This is a manatee!’”
It wasn’t the first time the manatee was spotted, as Bill Barnett and his wife Sharon saw it too at the end of June, leading them to believe that the manatee was swimming with a baby.
“I grew up with manatees,” Bill Barnett said. “This is the first one we’ve seen on the lake. I’ve been here like 15 years.”
“It’s beautiful and it’s amazing we have the opportunity to see it here,” Sharon Barnett said.
According the report, Marine biologists say that manatees can travel this far west though canals and storm drains, and while they can survive in the environment, as they can offer a variety of food sources, there was an incident back in 2021 where a manatee needed to be rescued by state wildlife officers, at another lake in Pembroke Pines, because the manatee was underweight and swimming erratically.
That doesn’t seem to be the concern with this manatee, who is said to appear healthy.
