Manatee ‘exhausted from mating’ rescued off Redington Beach
Mating manatee found beached off Reddington Beach
The FWC and ZooTampa rescued a manatee that was found beached off of Redington Beach on Thursday morning. FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - The FWC and ZooTampa rescued a manatee that was found beached off Redington Beach on Thursday morning.
Rescuers say the manatee was found with respiratory issues, likely caused by mating.
The FWC marine mammal staff responded to Redington Beach on Thursday morning.
"She was first sighted this morning beached near Redington Beach," Lisa Smith, an animal care supervisor at ZooTampa said.
Dig deeper:
The FWC staff determined the manatee was exhausted, likely from mating.
"There was a breeding herd nearby, so there's potential that she had been part of that breeding herd and kind of became exhausted," Smith said.
Smith says they believe the manatee is a few years old and weighs about 470 pounds. She says the manatee isn't considered a calf anymore and is old enough to be out on her own.
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"For manatees, it's not abnormal for them to form large mating herds where there are several males following a focal female around," Smith said.
Smith says it's not unusual to see manatees in clusters mating, especially during this time of year. She says peak mating time for manatees is during the spring and summer.
"Their mating herds will kind of look like a ball of manatees," she explained.
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If you do see manatees mating, the team at ZooTampa says they're okay, but you shouldn't go near them, even in shallow water.
"We definitely don't want the general public to get too close to a mating herd, because they can be dangerous," Smith said. "They are large animals and in shallow water."
What you can do:
If you do see a manatee that's beached or in distress, you can report it to the FWC hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
What's next:
FWC staff helped bring the manatee to shore so ZooTampa staff could bring her to their critical care center.
"We are still doing some diagnostics on her," Smith said. "We have her in one of our critical care pools where we're able to keep her kind of shallow, since she is a little lethargic, to make it easy for her to get rest. She'll have easy access to food and we'll continue to monitor her."
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The manatee will stay at ZooTampa to recover, so staff can make sure nothing else is wrong.
The zoo says she'll be returned to the wild once she recovers.