Springtime Releases
Five manatees try life in the wild again
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The Walt Disney World animal care team poses beside Bock the manatee prior to his release at Blue Spring State Park. (Photo © Walker Stanberry)
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It’s springtime, and if you live up north, you are probably looking forward to the possibility of warmer weather after a chilly winter. In Florida, we also look forward to the promise of spring, but for a different reason. This is the time of the year that rehabilitated manatees are released back into the wild. This season, the candidates include Amber, Bock, Baby Coral, C.C., and Rita.
Spring is the best time of the year to release the rehabilitated manatees because wild manatees are still gathered at warm water refuges around the state. Manatee season usually lasts from November through March, and as the weather warms up, the manatees start to depart to their summer habitats. Biologists hope the rehabbed manatees will team up with wild manatees at the warm water areas, which will help them get acclimated to living back in the wild. In addition, since winter is over, there is no danger of cold stress, which can be life threatening for manatees.
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Just 66 pounds when he was rescued, Bock weighed 1,000 pounds on the day he was released. Many strong backs were needed to help carry him down to the water's edge. (Photo © Walker Stanberry)
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See the video
and read more about Bock's release at the Orlando Sentinel web site |
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Bock was the first manatee to be released on February 24 at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida. Bock was an orphaned calf found in the St. Johns River in Duval County, Florida in 2001. He was just a year old at the time and was taken to SeaWorld Orlando, where he was bottle fed. He then moved to The Living Seas at Epcot/Walt Disney World in Orlando. Just 66 pounds when he was rescued, Bock weighed a healthy 1,000 pounds when he was released.
On February 26, Amber and Rita were also released at Blue Spring State Park. Blue Spring should be familiar waters to Amber, as she was rescued there in 2001. An orphaned calf, she became separated from her mother Ann and twin sister Amanda. Amber was 68 pounds at the time and now weighs about 1,300 pounds. Both Ann and Amanda have since returned to Blue Spring and were sighted there this winter, so there is a possibility this family could be reunited.
It’s been a long time since Rita has lived in the wild. Rescued after becoming entangled in a crab trap, she has lived at SeaWorld Orlando for almost 27 years. Unfortunately, Rita’s flipper had to be amputated as a result of the entanglement. However, she is still able to use her upper lip to grasp and eat aquatic vegetation. At 12 feet long and 3,000 pounds, Rita was the largest manatee to live at SeaWorld. When she was released at Blue Spring, a crane was used to lower her into the water.
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| Before the manatees are released, they are fitted with a tracking device so biologists can monitor their movements and adaptation back into the wild. (Photo © Walker Stanberry)
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On February 27, Baby Coral was released at Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida. Baby Coral was rescued as a calf with her mother, who later died. She was rehabilitated at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa and released with Baby Sister, a manatee rescued last year at Three Sisters after suffering a boat hit and severe propeller wounds.
The last candidate, C.C., is a male manatee, also rescued as an orphaned calf in Southwest Florida by biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. C.C. was brought to SeaWorld Orlando for rehabilitation. Topping out at 700 pounds, he was released on March 4 in the manatee sanctuary at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge by SeaWorld staff and the Sea2Shore Alliance.
All the manatees released this year are being monitored by the Manatee Rehabilitation Partnership, a cooperative group of nonprofit, private, state, and federal entities helping to track the progress of rehabilitated manatees released into the wild (Save the Manatee Club is a member). Melody Fischer, a manatee biologist and tracker with the Sea2Shore Alliance, visually checks on the manatees and follows their progress via satellite tracking. Melody will be posting periodic field notes on the animals she is tracking.
Get updates on the manatees! You can track the progress of Amber, Bock, C.C., Baby Coral, and Rita online and read Melody’s research notes at www.wildtracks.org.
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| At top, Bock is released into the warm waters of the Blue Spring run. At bottom, Bock attracts some excitement as the other manatees in the run swim to greet him. (Photos © Walker Stanberry) |
| About the MRP: The goal of the Manatee Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP) is to monitor the health and survival of rehabilitated and released manatees. Partnership members include Cincinnati Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Disney’s EPCOT: The Living Seas, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, Lowry Park Zoo, Miami Seaquarium, Save the Manatee Club, Sea2Shore Alliance, SeaWorld Orlando, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey- Sirenia Project, and Wildlife Trust. |
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