Just a few days ago, September 30, 2021, a fisherman Pay Habib thought he was seeing a dolphin. Turns out to his surprise that it was in fact a Manatee that was up swimming near the coast in Galveston Bay. This site is so rare that the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding reached out to record this for research purposes. Executive Director of TMMS told the Houston Chronicle “Manatee sightings along the Texas Gulf Coast date back to the early 1900s and have become increasingly common in recent years”, it is amazing to know that these animals are coming back to a place they haven’t been seen at for so long. She continued to state that there had been 15 manatee sightings along the coast so far this year (2021).

This sighting solidifies the work that groups like TMMS and U.S Fish and Wildlife Services do. Houston Chronicle went on to say that “There are an estimated 13,000 manatees in existence today, a significant increase from population estimates in the 1990s.”, this is great news seeing that manatees are on the threatened animal list.