Following months of rehabilitation at SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld’s Animal Rescue Team returned Mardi, a juvenile female manatee, back into the waters near Jacksonville, Fla.

This morning SeaWorld's animal rescue team returned manatee Kahula, who weighs close to 900 pounds, to the waters off Merritt Island, Fla. You might have seen Kahula in our rehab pool - the one with the scare around his entire body.

Kahula was just a bit excited to be back home

Currently, I help supervise the Animal Ambassador Team (AAT) at SeaWorld Orlando. This is an area of the training department that many of you may not realize exists, but you’ve probably seen in action. You may have interacted with the animals at the SeaGarden, attend a school where we’ve made an educational visit, or seen animals on one of our many appearances on TV.

SeaWorld Orlando’s Aviculture team recently received the first sandhill crane chick of the year -- an orphan, brought in by a concerned resident from St. Cloud, Fla.

SeaWorld Orlando animal rescue team received two hawksbill turtle hatchlings earlier this week. They are approximately two months old.

The first was found at Melbourne Beach by a tourist and was dropped off at the Sea Turtle Preservation Society in Melbourne Beach, Fla. It weighs only 2 ounces and is nearly 3 inches long. The turtle was in lethargic and weak condition when it arrived.

On March 9th, a team of marine animal rescue experts --from SeaWorld Orlando, NOAA Fisheries Services, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Chicago Zoological Society, Mote Marine Lab, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and University of Florida – worked together to free a dolphin that had been tangled in fishing line in the Ten Thousand Islands area, a chain of islands off the coast of southwest Florida between Cape Romano and Marco Island.

Yesterday morning, SeaWorld Orlando’s senior veterinarian performed surgery on a rescued sea turtle, removing a large fishing hook from its throat.

This morning SeaWorld Orlando’s animal care team traveled to Satellite Beach, Fla., a warm-water site, to release two manatees into a side canal off of the Banana River. Both animals were rescued and transported to SeaWorld Orlando last winter by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), who was also on-site assisting with today’s release.

To kick off 2012 and get you excited for the opening of TurtleTrek at SeaWorld Orlando this spring, we wanted to focus on turtles for this week’s Species Spotlight. A one-of-a-kind 3-D/360-degree movie is only part of TurtleTrek’s allure.

This morning I woke up frightened after having a nightmare that I wasn’t able to return home. Even though this trip has been the opportunity of a lifetime, I can’t wait to see my puppy and share my experience with my family and friends. Yesterday was my last full day here and I could not pass the opportunity to go zip-lining and souvenir shopping. I can honestly say that I have checked so many things off my bucket list in the last two weeks.