Stampede of sea cows keeps zoo rehab center busy

By KEITH MORELLI
Media General News Service
Published: May 2, 2008

TAMPA — The rehab center at Lowry Park Zoo is flush with sea cows, all there for the care that may help them survive nasty propeller cuts, shivering cold stress or the loss of a parent.
Some are soon to be released.

Some will never again graze at the bottom of a spring-fed river.

Each has a name and a dossier.

Never has the zoo had so many.

Under the hot sun Wednesday afternoon, Virginia Edmonds leaned over a concrete tank wall and bottle-fed a green gooey paste of seaweed to a baby manatee. A bunch of other orphans clustered around the tank. Some nuzzled toward the bottle, others munched on heads of soggy Romaine lettuce floating on the surface.

Edmonds, assistant curator of Florida mammals at the zoo, knows each manatee. She can tick off their names, when they came in, what was wrong with them and when they might be released. She knows which 10 are in critical condition.

All of this off the top of her head — not so easy with so many in her care.

The manatees here come from all over. There’s one from Wakulla Springs and another from Naples. A couple came from Crystal River and another is from Bradenton. One orphan was rescued from a beach in the Cayman Islands.

The David A. Straz Jr. Manatee Hospital hit a record number of patients two weeks ago with the arrival of Goody and her newborn Two Shoes, victims of propeller strikes in southwest Florida. Both appear to be doing fine and might be released soon.

But just as sure as one is released, more will come in. Propellers account for about 22 percent of manatee deaths. And their habitat is disappearing, putting them under increasing stress.
Designation as endangered by the federal government has helped them rebound from near extinction, and their numbers hover around 3,000 in Florida waters. Three places that treat the injured creatures are helping keep those numbers up — Lowry Park, SeaWorld in Orlando and the Miami Seaquarium.

State money, about $350,000 a year, accounts for about a third of the cost of operating these centers. But the state is facing a budget crisis, so that source appears to be drying up, said Lowry Park Zoo spokeswoman Rachel Nelson.

The staff here has its fingers crossed for a last-minute reprieve as the Legislature finishes up its 2008 session this week.

Meanwhile, manatees lumber about the pools looking for something to munch on.

They love to eat. That’s about all they do.

Manatees typically devour about 10 percent of their body weight daily, and with some tipping the scales at 1,500 pounds or more, that adds up to about 35 cases of Romaine lettuce a day. A case goes for $18, so lettuce alone here is running $630 a day.

“This is the most we’ve ever had,” said Edmonds, after bottle-feeding the last orphan. She has worked here 20 years and tended to manatees for the past 12.

The hospital has had a near full house twice before. In 2003 and 2006, the number of patients rose to 14. The filtration system in the hospital’s tanks can process enough water to accommodate 20 of the mammals.

Nos. 14 and 15, Goody and her 69-pound Two Shoes, were having trouble nursing when they arrived with their propeller wounds. Goody’s eating habits are also raising some concerns.
But both have recovered to the point they’ve been moved to the viewing pool, where zoo-goers can watch them interact.

“They’re doing really well,” Edmonds said.

“We want to make sure that when we release them, they swim off together.”

On the other side of the underwater glass, Locke Elementary School students on a field trip marvel at the mom and newborn as they glide through the water just a few feet away.
“That manatee,” said 6-year-old Pryce Emerson, “is really, really, really big.”

KEITH MORELLI is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune