Feb 16, 2007 3:11 pm US/Eastern
Marco The Manatee Released Back Into The Wild
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MIAMI (CBS News) ―
An endangered manatee, rescued and rehabilitated at the Miami Seaquarium, was released back into the wild Friday and began his journey back to the ocean Friday morning.
Marco, 8 feet in length and weighing about 800 pounds, was rescued as a 1-month-old orphan baby from the Marco Island area on May 2, 2004. The Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission brought him to the Miami Seaquarium for rehabilitation from tail injuries caused by small shark bites, and scrape marks to his lower back.
The orphan calf weighed only about 200 pounds when he arrived but responded well to medical treatment and has now fully recuperated after nearly three years of around the clock care from animal care staff at the Miami Seaquarium.
Friday morning, Marco was loaded into a special truck, which took him to the west coast of Florida where he's being released into the waters off the private island "Warm Mineral Springs", north of Port Charlotte.
Miami Seaquarium Curator Robert Rose told
CBS4 News that the cold front moving through South Florida this weekend will cause a lot of manatees to gather in the waters off "Warm Mineral Springs".
Experts hope Marco will join the manatees and eventually follow their migration patterns.
Marco has also been fitted with monitoring devices to allow specialists to continually check on his health and well being.
In June of last year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted to reclassify the manatee on Florida's list, to a "threatened" status in that state. However, manatees remain classified as "endangered" at the federal level.
The population of manatees in Florida is thought to be between 2,000 and 3,000.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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