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Bishop Releases 3 Manatees, Our Town Sarasota News Events

Bishop Releases 3 Manatees

Sarasota News Events:

The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature announced today that on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, three male manatees were released back to the wild after nearly a year of care at The Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat. Wicket and Morado arrived at The Bishop from SeaWorld Orlando in March 2024 for second-stage rehabilitation. After receiving medical care at ZooTampa at Lowry Park, Klondike transferred to The Bishop’s Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat. 

With the help of colleagues from The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Mote Marine Laboratory, and the TECO Manatee Viewing Center, The Bishop’s Animal Care team transported the trio of manatees to Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach, a warm water site routinely used by manatees during the winter and the closest warm water site to the rescue locations for all three. 

“While we’re always sad to say goodbye to the manatees that spend time with us at The Bishop, it was so wonderful to see Morado, Wicket, and Klondike returning to their true home in the warm waters at TECO,” said Andrew Sandall, The Bishop’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our work in manatee rehabilitation is vital to conserving this majestic species. We’re proud to be part of an amazing network of partners who tirelessly and selflessly work together to ensure manatees needing assistance can safely return to the wild.” 

Sandall added, “Seeing our wonderful Animal Care team there yesterday, working in front of the large crowd of onlookers at the TECO Manatee Viewing Center, and watching each manatee swim away from the release point to start the next chapter of their stories among many hundreds of other manatees underlined what an incredible job our team does through this vital work.” 

Upon release, Wicket was outfitted with a satellite-linked transmitter, allowing the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership, Inc. (MRP) researchers and biologists to monitor his health and movements. The public can follow their progress online at www.ManateeRescue.org. The monitoring equipment may remain on him for a month but can extend up to a year. Klondike, the manatee with the most experience in the wild at the time of rescue, and Morado did not receive post-release monitoring. 

While we prepare for the arrival of new manatees at The Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat, Museum and Animal Care staff will take the opportunity to conduct routine maintenance to the facility. Due to the great need to keep space available for injured and sick manatees at Florida’s two critical care manatee hospitals, we are already working with our MRP and FWC partners to identify manatees who are suitable to be transferred to Bradenton and make The Bishop their temporary home during the next stage of their rehabilitation.