{"id":132200,"date":"2025-09-04T12:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/132200\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T12:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:24:08","slug":"texas-crew-halts-64-million-construction-project-over-rare-manatee-sighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/132200\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas crew halts $64 million construction project over rare manatee sighting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A rare wildlife encounter with a West Indian manatee and an environmentally aware crew temporarily halted a $64 million ferry project on the Texas Gulf Coast this summer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTxDOT crews knew what to do when they saw the majestic sea cow swimming nearby,\u201d according to the Texas Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n<p>The project upgrading ramps and landings for the Port Aransas ferry system, was stopped immediately when construction crews saw the endangered and federally protected manatee near the job site.<\/p>\n<p>Texas DOT officials said the manatee, which was not in distress, lingered for several hours near the ferry operations before heading west toward Corpus Christi Bay. <\/p>\n<p>After the manatee moved out of the area, construction resumed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTxDOT has made environmental stewardship a key focus of its statewide operations, incorporating wildlife crossings for ocelots, bat houses under bridges, and other initiatives to minimize harm to native species,\u201d the department said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.00490677;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37013323\" width=\"593\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/port-aransas-texas-rare-wildlife-110634661.jpg\" alt=\"West Indian manatee swimming near a pier.\" class=\"wp-image-37013323\"  \/>After the manatee moved out of the area, construction resumed. Texas DOT \/ FOX Weather<\/p>\n<p>The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network (TXMMSN) said it received multiple sightings of manatees this summer, including in Surfside, Quintana and Port Aransas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese gentle West Indian Manatees usually spend winters in Florida, but sometimes migrate all the way to Texas in summer,\u201d according to the TXMMSN.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>According to Texas Tech University\u2019s Natural Science Research Laboratory, West Indian manatees can be found in rivers, estuaries and coastal areas from the southeastern U.S., along Central America and the West Indies to the northern coast of South America.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Laboratory said manatees are \u201cexceedingly rare in Texas waters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who spots a manatee can report it to the Stranding Network by calling 1-800-9MAMMAL (1-800-962-6625) with the date\/time, location (GPS if possible), a description and photos or videos from a safe distance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare wildlife encounter with a West Indian manatee and an environmentally aware crew temporarily halted a $64&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,12514,2027,79,1022,194,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-132200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-construction","10":"tag-endangered-species","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-us-news","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}