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<\/p>\nWhenever a door closes, a new one opens.<\/p>\n
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium has acquired a dozen new residents, refugees from the Miami Seaquarium, which shuttered in late 2025 after 70 years in operation.<\/p>\n
Although the Miami-to-Clearwater exodus included bottlenose dolphins Star and Squirt, three harbor seals and a nurse shark, the others are terrestrial animals, including four tropical birds, six tortoises and a number of small mammals.<\/p>\n
Kourtney Laratonda was brought aboard in February; a veteran of the Miami facility, she manages the CMA\u2019s new Animal Connections and Wings & Wildlife exhibits.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of Clearwater Marine Aquarium\u2019s mission is rescue,\u201d Laratonda said. \u201cThese terrestrial animals fit under that profile, because they need new homes. It doesn\u2019t mean they have to be an aquatic animal in order to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Animal Connections habitats are designed and painted to look like vintage Key West homes. CMA photo.<\/p>\n
Laratonda, whose official title is Aquatic Biology and Animal Connections Manager, was the Seaquarium\u2019s marine mammal training manager, and its care manager for terrestrial animals.<\/p>\n
CMA\u2019s mission, is essence, is \u201crescue, rehabilitation and release.\u201d Although there is a fully-staffed medical and surgery center on site, the animals who call it home are, for one reason or another, not eligible for release. Some were originally donated by owners who could no longer care for them, some were mistreated, and some \u2013 like Star and Squirt \u2013 were born in captivity and therefore would not survive in the wild (there are now 10 dolphins, all indigenous to the Gulf of Mexico, in the aquarium\u2019s 1.5 million gallon Stone Dolphin Complex).<\/p>\n
CMA is the only facility in America that houses rough-toothed dolphins; two of them (Rosie and Rudy) are deaf.<\/p>\n
\u201cRescue,\u201d noted Laratonda, \u201ccomes in many different forms. A lot of people think rescue means they\u2019re in distress, or abused, or stranded, and they need help and rehabilitation. Not necessarily. It can come in the form of: They just need a new home.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Native to Australia, these tiny noctural sugar gliders will occupy one of the Animal Connections habitats.<\/p>\n
The new exhibits were part of a series of expansion goals set down by the CMA board and administrators as early as 2020. That was before the death of Winter, the handicapped dolphin whose oft-told story attracted millions of visitors and made CMA a household name, and prior to the twin hurricanes of 2024, which flooded the facility and played havoc with the then-brand new rescue and rehab facility for manatees.<\/p>\n
With a staff of 158, 48 interns and close to 300 volunteers, CMA set about making lemonade out of lemons.<\/p>\n
The manatee area (now called the Dr. James \u201cBuddy\u201d Powell Manatee Rehabilitation Center) has been fully restored, and has already rehabbed and released several of the endangered marine mammals. Two more are expected this summer.<\/p>\n
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Benji the opossum (with CMA\u2019s Emma Jones) survived a dog attack, but has medical issues and is not releasable.<\/p>\n
(CMA is a member of the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership, collaborating with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and 20 other partners.)<\/p>\n
The harbor seals, along with three California sea lions coming shortly from another facility, will take up residence at Pinniped Pier, a new habitat scheduled to open in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I loved about Clearwater Marine Aquarium was that they did not want to split up social groups,\u201d Laratonda said. \u201cThey were very adamant about groupings that were already together, or already familiar with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
This includes several of the Miami Seaquarium birds, who were thoroughly bonded pals at their old digs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opening of Wings & Wildlife and the Animal Connections Village represent an exciting evolution for Clearwater Marine Aquarium,\u201d CEO Joe Handy said in a prepared statement, \u201cas we continue expanding the ways we connect guests to wildlife, conservation and animal rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relocating from Miami as the lone human in the handoff, Laratonda said, was less of a culture shock than she expected. It helped that she was already on a first-name basis with most of the new animal arrivals in her care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI absolutely love it,\u201d she enthused. \u201cIt\u2019s a definite change of pace \u2013 the cities are very different. There\u2019s less traffic here and the beaches are, in my opinion, much more beautiful. I lucked out.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Environmental education and outreach are part of CMA\u2019s mission; during the Catalyst photo shoot, Laratonda took time to introduce Powder to curious vistors, and to tell them his story.<\/p>\n
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