Oct 29, 2009 10:30 pm US/Eastern
Ilya The Manatee Rescued Off NJ, Arrives In Miami
Ilya Made It To Miami On Thursday
VIRGINIA KEY (CBS4) ―
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Ilya, the manatee, pictured here was photographed by a wildlife worker earlier this year.
Boston Globe
A Florida manatee that had wandered into the frigid waters of northern New Jersey, and became the focus of an intense search to rescue him, has finally arrived at the Miami Seaquarium to be rehabilitated.
The wayward male, known as Ilya, had been stuck in murky water near a Linden oil refinery, and officials said plunging temperatures and a lack of food were endangering its life. And while the gentle sea cow appeared to be in good health, it had been huddling near the outfall pipe of that oil refinery, the only place it could find warm water. Rescue attempts were thwarted by bad weather along the New Jersey shore, and then Ilya disappeared.
Fortunately, the docile fellow was pulled from a creek at the ConocoPhillips oil refinery in Linden on Monday and had been recuperating at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.
Federal wildlife authorities kept the rescue a secret, fearing a crush of media and well-wishers could stress the manatee.
It took more than 30 rescuers to corral Ilya in a rescue attempt that lasted 7 1/2 hours. It involved stretching a 300-foot net from shore onto the bow of a boat that was then maneuvered around the manatee to ensnare it, in the same manner that fishermen use a seining net to catch fish in shallow water.
Once they got the 1,100-pound, 10-foot-long manatee onto the muddy creek bank, a crane from the refinery lifted him onto a stretcher that was then loaded onto a truck and driven 84 miles south to the stranding center.
Ilya chowed down on crates of lettuce as he regained his strength, downing $300 worth of produce in two days.
"All this thing did was eat," said Bob Schoelkopf, co-director of the center.
He appeared to be healthy and in good shape to endure the two-hour flight to South Florida aboard a Coast Guard C-130 plane, resting on matting and covered with wet towels, a veterinarian at his side.
Ilya arrived at the Seaquarium without further complications Thursday afternoon. He'll remain there until he's healthy enough to be released back into the much warmer waters off South Florida.
Manatees generally tolerate water temperatures as low as 68-degrees and become susceptible to cold stress once the temperature drops below this level.
Ilya, who was first tagged by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service nearly ten years ago, was spotted as far north as Connecticut. At the time of his rescue, he had spent more than two weeks in waters with temperatures ranging from the mid-60s to the low 50s.
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