{"id":279568,"date":"2026-02-12T00:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/279568\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T00:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:28:08","slug":"a-410-pound-manatee-rescued-from-a-florida-storm-drain-is-recovering-at-seaworld-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/279568\/","title":{"rendered":"A 410-pound manatee rescued from a Florida storm drain is recovering at SeaWorld Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A manatee that got stuck in a Florida storm drain while <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/manatees-cold-weather-florida-5e473d4d5660815685d4cb7cc5292d81\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:seeking warmer waters;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">seeking warmer waters<\/a> is on the mend at SeaWorld Orlando after a coordinated rescue effort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Multiple fire rescue units and officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the University of Florida and even Jack&#8217;s Wrecker Service were brought in Tuesday to get the 410-pound (186-kilogram) sea cow out of the storm drain in Melbourne Beach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The crews convened on the scene after a worker with Melbourne Beach spotted the manatee, the city&#8217;s Vice Mayor Terry Cronin told WESH-TV in Orlando.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe\u2019re in the process of improving the storm drain across Melbourne Beach. Our people were doing a survey. And one of the surveyors noticed a manatee in what is called a baffle box.&#8221; Cronin said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The male manatee was taken to SeaWorld Orlando, where it is being cared for in one of the park&#8217;s medical pools, spokesperson Stephanie Bechara said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cHe&#8217;s breathing on his own, moving independently and showing interest in food. Our teams are adjusting water levels to support buoyancy and comfort as part of his care,\u201d Bechara said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">She said they work to stabilize and rehabilitate rescued manatees so they can ultimately be returned to the wild.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The protected species is still recovering from a mass starvation event. In 2021, officials recorded more than <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/florida-manatees-animals-climate-and-environment-e6b28b8aa373824181dd67ff30507a0a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:1,100 manatee deaths;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">1,100 manatee deaths<\/a>, mostly caused by starvation. The state&#8217;s fish and wildlife agency said deaths have gone down significantly, with 565 deaths recorded in 2024, and 555 deaths in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Last year, SeaWorld Orlando rescued 56 manatees and has already taken in seven this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A manatee that got stuck in a Florida storm drain while seeking warmer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[72465,156830,156828,111,139,69,147,156827,29126,156829,23170,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-279568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-florida-fish-and-wildlife","9":"tag-manatee-deaths","10":"tag-melbourne-beach","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-seaworld-orlando","16":"tag-storm-drain","17":"tag-terry-cronin","18":"tag-university-of-florida","19":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}