Manatee Guardians Fired

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Two of the eight staff members who oversee Florida's only manatee refuge have been fired. One is a park ranger. The Trump administration's sweeping cuts to the federal workforce are impacting the threatened manatees that live in the only national refuge created specifically for them.

The employees manage the 32,000-acre Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge on Florida's Gulf Coast, which draws hundreds of thousands of annual visitors. The cuts come during peak manatee season when the animals gather by the hundreds at the park's warm-water Three Sisters Springs to fend off the cold. The staff reduction is detrimental to a team already juggling manatee rescues, permits, law enforcement, and whatever else the day might bring....

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