New critical-care pools to help ZooTampa with rise in manatee patients

TAMPA, Fla. - Much of the new construction at ZooTampa is to help staff help manatees. 

"We've been looking into this for several years," ZooTampa Animal Care Supervisor Lisa Smith said. "We are hoping that this will increase our capacity by several manatees."

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The exact number of increased manatee capacity will vary, depending on the marine mammals' size and duration needed in the pools. All five critical-care pools feature mechanical lifts. When manatees are being treated, they must be completely out of the water.

"We can bring them out of their water, perform their treatment, and then get them right back down in the water so they can socialize with other manatees and continue to heal," Smith said.

ZooTampa treated 28 manatees last year, the most in the zoo's history. A manatee suffering from exhaustion was brought in two weeks ago.

What's next:

New equipment also allowed the zoo to hire more caretakers. In addition to the two pools, the manatee rescue area is currently being expanded, with an opening set for spring 2026. The rescue area is where the manatees can stay after critical care. For calves, they are not released until they are around 600 pounds.

"It never gets old working with manatees," Smith said. "Every case is very different. We're seeing new things all the time, and every case that we're able to return to the wild is equally as important and exciting for me."

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