Floridians had a record year for running over panthers and manatees

Florida manatees and panthers had a pretty terrible year, mostly because people kept running them over.

According to recent numbers released by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida boaters have killed a record 98 manatees so far in 2016.

This tops the previous record set in 2009 of 97.

So far, there has been a total of 472 reported manatee deaths in 2016, which makes "death by boat" the statistical favorite way to go for manatees.

It's worth mentioning that over the last few years manatee populations have steadily been on the rise. Earlier this year, manatees were removed from the federal endangered species list and recategorized as "threatened."

Florida's total manatee population is now around 6,000, says the FWC.
But waterways aren't the only places were Florida drivers are doing damage. Yesterday, Florida motorists broke the record for the most panthers killed in a year, with 31.

Officials say loss of habit and an increasing human activity has put a lot of pressure on Florida panther population, which is now somewhere between 100-180.

Similar to manatees, "death by car" is without a doubt the most common form of panther death in the Sunshine State, killing almost 10 percent of the total population each year since 2014.

With a few weeks left in the year, it's safe to say that 2016 will go down as one of the worst years for Florida wildlife.