Manatee

Laura and I had been talking about visiting Cincinnati Zoo for the last couple of weeks, but we were waiting for a day when it wasn't too hot and humid, so hopefully the animals would be a bit more active. Well after the storm we had yesterday morning, the air was much more pleasant and less humid, and today was going to be sunny with a high in the upper 70s, as opposed to the mid-upper 80s we've been experiencing, so we decided it would be a good day, and we weren't disappointed. One of the places we particularly wanted to check out was Manatee Springs. Cincinnati is one of only two facilities outside of Florida to participate in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's Program to rescue and rehabilitate distressed and injured Florida manatees. The fundamental purpose of the program is to release these rehabilitated manatees back into their wild habitat. Since the Cincinnati Zoo opened Manatee Springs in 1999, seven manatees have now been released back into the wild. We knew that they had released their last two back in October, and had been without any for several months. However, as we were walking nearby, the little tram passed us and we heard the guide saying they had two new young ones. One of them, Turner, was a victim of the unusually cold weather Florida experienced at the beginning of this year. Exposure to low temperatures over a period of time can cause a condition called "manatee cold-stress syndrome", which can result in death. Due to this condition, manatees like Turner, were rescued and are recovering in partner facilities. Both of the current manatees are young, one is two yrs old and the other three, much younger than previous ones we have seen, and they seemed much more active, not that they're fast movers, even when young. This of course is another problem they face in the wild. Their slow-moving, curious nature, coupled with dense coastal development in Florida, has led to many violent collisions with propellers from fast moving speed boats, leading frequently to maiming, disfigurement, and even death.