Earlier this week, SeaWorld released two manatees to Blue Spring State Park in Florida.
Jackie was a young, 65-pound orphan when she was rescued by the park in August, 2001. Bottle-raised by the animal care staff, she now weighs nearly 800 pounds.
Webster, a 1,500-pound-pound male, was born at SeaWorld in 1991. Interestingly, Webster’s mother is Charlotte, a bottle-raised orphan rescued by SeaWorld in 1985.
The two manatees returned to the wild today were the 6th and 7th manatee released by SeaWorld this year. Both were fitted with satellite “tags” that allow biologists to monitor the manatees’ movements.
SeaWorld's rescue team, at the SeaWorld parks in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio, is on call 24/7 and have rescued over 18,000 animals -- birds, whales, sea lions, manatees, sea turtles, pelicans -- since the rescue programs began nearly 45 years ago.
Who's in the rescue team? Who does this work?
At SeaWorld Orlando, it's members of the animal care (mammals), aviculture (birds) and aquarium (fish, sea turtles) departments. These are the experts who go out into the springs, the marshes, the beaches and sometimes even storm drains to rescue animals in need. Working with a staff of veterinarians, they also provide hands-on care -- and lots of TLC -- to the animals they rescue, with the ultimate goal of returning them to the wild.
Here are a few of those hard-working folks, shown in action during this week's manatee releases.
