Saturday, March 23 marked the seventh year that Earth Hour took place across the globe. It also marks the very first year that SeaWorld San Diego held an official Earth Hour event. Created by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF), Earth Hour challenges everyone around the world to turn their lights off for one hour to help raise awareness about the need to take action against climate change.

An orphaned manatee calf was rescued yesterday afternoon by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, and then transported to SeaWorld Orlando late yesterday for rehabilitation and long-term care. The young calf was spotted swimming alone by a private citizen prior to its rescue from Sykes Creek in Merritt Island, Fla.

After months of rehabilitation, SeaWorld Orlando’s Animal Rescue Team returned a total of 16 sea turtles to their ocean home this week. Of these sea turtles, 15 were rescued Dec. 14, 2012, off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., as part of a massive rescue of animals suffering from cold stress.

Szenja, one of our two beautiful female polar bears, has a new boyfriend. His name is Koda and he lives at the Pittsburgh Zoo. We recently transported Szenja across the country to Pittsburgh where she’ll live for the next several months as part of a polar bear breeding program. The decision to send Szenja to Pittsburgh reflects our commitment to managing the polar bear population within zoological facilities.

On August 7, 2012, the Brevard County Sheriff's office responded to a report of a possible dead body in the Indian River Lagoon. However, when officers arrived on the scene, they discovered a loggerhead sea turtle, instead. Due to his unique discovery, he earned the name “Lazarus: The Presumed Dead Loggerhead."

SeaWorld Orlando's Animal Rescue Team returned a manatee to the St. Johns River in Blue Spring State Park this morning. First, he was prepared to be transported from SeaWorld Orlando where he had been rehabilitating.

Earlier this week on January 8, a team of marine animal rescue experts - from National Marine Fisheries Services, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and our very own SeaWorld Orlando – worked together to free a dolphin that had been tangled in fishing line in the Banana River, located near Cape Canaveral, Fla.

I love SeaWorld San Diego’s mission to return rescued and rehabilitated animals to the wild. Looking on as sea turtles, seabirds, sea lions and seals get reacquainted with the ocean is quite a sight.

Six months after finding an approximately five-day-old dolphin while boating in Florida waters, the family that alerted the appropriate authorities and stayed with the young calf until help arrived was reunited with the dolphin at SeaWorld Orlando.

This morning, SeaWorld Orlando’s Animal Rescue Team traveled to the Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian, Fla., to return two sea turtles that were brought to the park earlier this year.