The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Manatee The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Manatee
Showing posts with label Manatee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manatee. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Coast Guard Rescues an 800 Pound Pregnant Manatee: She Will Be Temporarily Housed at SeaWorld


A complex rescue effort involving a Coast Guard plane is helping return a pregnant manatee to the wild. The 800-pound marine mammal was rescued in September off the coast of Massachusetts.

Less than a month later, veterinarians gave the go-ahead to make the journey from a base in Groton, Connecticut back to Florida, where the manatee is beginning the next phase of her recovery, reports CBS News correspondent David Begnaud. 

The manatee – named Washburn for the island where she was rescued – returned to the Sunshine State after a 1,300-mile flight aboard a Coast Guard transport plane.

Escorted by police, a slow procession moved through the streets of Orlando to her temporary new home at SeaWorld.

There, a crane hoisted Washburn into a private rehab tank. You could almost see the relief as she hit the water.

The once anonymous manatee became a summer celebrity. She was spotted bobbing in the choppy waters off Cape Cod in late August. Conservationists with the International Fund for Animal Welfare sprang into action, capturing Washburn three weeks later, and taking her to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. 

When Washburn arrived there, it became clear that this rescue operation was even more important than first thought. Veterinarians discovered this manatee was a mom-to-be.

“It’s not only one manatee but it’s two so the stakes are pretty high,” said Dr. Jen Flower, a veterinarian at Mystic Aquarium.

Manatees, also known as “sea cows,” can weigh over 3,000 pounds, eating a diet comprised mainly of sea grass. The animals, native to Florida, spent nearly 50 years on the endangered species list, but the population is recovering. 

Sea World veterinarian Lara Croft accompanied Washburn on the flight south. She said just saving one has proven to be worth the extraordinary effort.

“We did have one orphan calf that was hand-reared, returned to the wild and she gave birth to nine calves,” Croft said. “And who knows how many calves that those calves had. One manatee can have a huge effect on the population.”

Now that Washburn is back home in Florida, the staff at SeaWorld is working hard to prepare her return to the wild, where she’s expected to give birth in about four to six months. SeaWorld has released 17 manatees back into the wild thus far.


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Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Rescuers Freed a Group of at Least 17 Manatees Stuck in a Mass Stranding in a Storm Drain


Satellite Beach, Florida - Rescuers freed a group of at least 17 manatees stuck in a mass stranding in a storm drain in Satellite Beach, Florida.

Crews from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Satellite Beach Fire Department and Police Department and city utilities worked to access into the culverts where the marine mammals were trapped, so a five-member team from SeaWorld could lift them out and release them back into the water, officials said.

With rain in the forecast, there was concern that the animals stuck in the drain could drown if the culvert were to fill with water.

Manatees, which are very curious, occasionally swim into storm drains, but because the culvert gradually narrows, some larger animals can get wedged and stuck, according to Ann Spellman, a marine biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Even if only one gets physically wedged in the pipe, any others following it can't get out, because they cannot swim backwards and don't have room to turn around.

After the mass stranding was discovered Monday, the city installed grates on the mouth of the culverts in the area to prevent any other manatees from swimming in.






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