Cincinnati Zoo
Illusion, the brave manatee from Florida
On March 5, 2010, a 978-pound manatee was rescued in Riviera Beach, Florida, after being struck by a boat and suffering major lacerations. Today, after months of rehabilitation in both the Miami Aquarium and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, the manatee, named Illusion, will be released in North Palm Beach to head back to her natural habitat. She is one of the lucky ones - Florida has found nearly 400 dead manatees in this year alone.
As part of the release process, zoo keepers in Cincinnati helped her practice moving into different tanks before she flies back to Florida. The eigth manatee to be rehabilitated and released by the Cincinnati Zoo, she leaves behind her roommates Wooten and Betsy, whose release has not yet been scheduled.
More information on the Manatee Rehabilitation Partnership can be found here.
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In case you have a manatee male who needs naming, I just recently saw the old movie The Petrified Forest. One thing it's known for is being Humphrey Bogart's big break in Hollywood.
Bogart plays Duke Mantee, a notorious outlaw we get warned about for the first parts of the movie. And when he shows up, everybody looks to him for all the answers. I mean, even his hostages and the law people do. And Bogart's great. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week, and like he actually feels the weight of all the responsibility people are thrusting onto him. That's tough for a guy who just wants to be a vicious outlaw ...
Anyway, any male manatee, needs naming? I say call him Duke.
john
Bogart almost didn't get the roll. But Leslie Howard demanded he be given it. Duke Manatee that's good.
I'd heard that about Leslie Howard, too. Perhaps we saw the same cable TV presentation.
I am all for animal rehabilitation but why Cincinnati? That means this poor manatee had to travel a thousand miles to a state smack dab in the middle of the country (no where near a manatee habitat). Makes no sense to me.
Leslie
The Cincinnati Zoo has one of, if not the best wild animal veterinary programs in the country. Illusion couldn't have had better care. They have been pioneers in saving rare and endangered species. See here:
http://cincinnatizoo.org/blog/2011/10/25/celebrating-30-years-of-saving-species-with-science/
Republicans like to kill manatees for fun and profit.
You know, of course, when manatees were first sighted by Christopher Columbus, They were mistaken for mermaids... At least, he reported them as such...
http://www.examiner.com/pets-in-tampa-bay/manatees-and-mermaids-little-known-facts
I hope Illusion can find Whiskers and bump flippers with him. A friend gave a donation for my birthday to Adopt a Manatee years ago. I still wonder if he's OK.
http://www.savethemanatee.org/adoptpag.htm
It's good to hear a success story regarding the saving of wildlife. I hope we can save more of them.