Titan the manatee is being treated for collapsed lungs at the zoo’s David A. Straz Jr. Manatee Critical Care Center. Photo by Leah Burdick.
ZooTampa at Lowry Park had a record-breaking year, with more manatees coming through its rescue and rehabilitation program than ever before. Last year, the zoo’s Manatee Critical Care Center took in 28 manatees and released 26 back into Florida waters.
The zoo is one of only two critical care centers for manatees in Florida.
Jaime Vaccaro is the Associate Curator of Florida and Manatee at ZooTampa.
“To release 26 manatees really speaks to our accomplishments as a team and as an organization. We work closely with our partners to ensure the best for our manatees and the care,” she said. “Being able to send 26 manatees back out and start their lives again is a great feeling. You’ll never forget your first manatee release, and it’s always a pleasure to watch them start a new life.”
Vaccaro said she thanks the community for being the zoos “first eyes” on the scene and taking precautions in the waters.
“So if you ever see something that you think doesn’t look right on a manatee, you see a manatee by itself, you see a manatee floating out of the water, that’s not normal. Definitely, you can call Florida Fish and Wildlife. They have a stranding hotline, which is 1-888-404- FWC. or you can call the zoo,” she said.
When reporting a manatee, the FWC will ask for a photo and the location to send biologist out. Then if needed, the zoo’s team will go and asses the manatee to see if it will need medical assistance.
“We’re very hands-off at our hospital besides. Medical treatments we want them to really flourish when they return back to the wild and that we don’t want them coming up to humans for any type of interaction because they are a protected species,” Vaccaro said. “So everything we do has their rehabilitation in mind and their progress to get released.”
Right now, the center is caring for twenty manatees, ten in critical condition.
Two of the most recent rescues, Titan and Melon, were brought in early December with collapsed lungs.
The Critical Care Center has been operating since 1991 and has treated more than six hundred manatees.