Meet A Manatee: Chessie
Once a famous northeast traveler,
we're still hoping for a sighting today
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A winter sighting of Chessie in 1996 at the Florida Power and Light Company's Port Everglades Power Plant.
(Photo by Kit Curtin)
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The successful rescue of Ilya the manatee from the cold waters of New Jersey last fall brought to mind another manatee who once garnered nationwide attention. The manatee, named Chessie, also made a trek to the northeast — more than once, as a matter of fact! And he’s a manatee we are still hoping to sight today.
Chessie was first spotted in the Chesapeake Bay in July of 1994, and his appearance immediately caused a stir. Although manatees can be found outside Florida in the summer, sightings typically occur in Alabama, Georgia, or South Carolina. Manatees had been known to venture further north, but usually only as far as Virginia, and these sightings were rare.
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| After being rescued in the Chespeake Bay in Maryland and being flown back to Florida, Chessie is released back into the wild.
(Photo by Judith Vallee, Save the Manatee Club) |
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By the end of September, the weather had turned cold, and Chessie showed no inclination to return home on his own. Because manatees are a semi-tropical species and can’t tolerate water temperatures much lower than 68 degrees, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decided to attempt a rescue. A team was assembled that included experts from FWS, SeaWorld Orlando, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and financial support for the rescue was provided by Save the Manatee Club.
Chessie was by no means easy to find, however. The Chesapeake Bay is a large body of water, and locating a manatee in a water body that size is the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, Maryland residents took a lot of interest in him and many sightings were reported. Chessie was observed by boat and aircraft in order to detect his movement patterns and to look for a good capture situation.
Finally, on October 1st, Chessie was located near the headwaters of Queenstown Creek and successfully captured after a 4-hour effort. This was no small feat, considering that Chessie was over 10 feet long and weighted nearly 1,500 pounds! He was transported to the National Aquarium at Baltimore and rested quietly before being flown back to Florida by the U.S. Coast Guard. After a week of observation, Chessie was tagged with a transmitter and released back into the wild.
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The summer after he was rescued in the Chesapeake Bay, Chessie headed north again. Above, a sighting in Ocean City, Maryland.
(Photo by Jim Reid, U.S. Geological Survey, Sirenia Project
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Tracked by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Sirenia Project, Chessie gained media fame in the summer of 1995 when he did it all over again, only better. He swam past the mid-Atlantic states, through New York City, and all the way to Pt. Judith, Rhode Island! This time, however, he returned to Florida on his own for the winter.
Chessie’s Rhode Island trip was record breaking at the time, but he is no longer the record holder when it comes to northeasterly manatee travels. In 2006, a “mystery manatee” (never identified) was sighted in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Ilya was also sighted at the Cape in 2009.
As for Chessie, he’s apparently decided to go incognito. In the winter of 1996, he was seen near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and he was tracked again as he crossed the Florida-Georgia border in June. By July, however, Chessie ditched his transmitter altogether near Beaufort, North Carolina.
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| Chessie's last known sighting was in August 2001 at the Great Bridge Locks in Virginia.
(Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey, Sirenia Project |
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Since that time, there have only been two other verified sightings of Chessie: one in August 1996 as he swam past Portsmouth, Virginia, and another in August 2001 at the Great Bridge Locks in Virginia. A true traveler, Chessie’s not known for staying long in any one place. But we believe the big guy is still out there. And we know that one day, if we’re lucky, we’ll catch a glimpse of him again.
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