2024-09-29 20:35:03
A young manatee that washed ashore at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, was rescued and released back into Tampa Bay, the base said.
The mammal, native to Florida waters, washed ashore amid Hurricane Helene’s coastal surge, the base said in a Facebook post Saturday.
Video posted by the base shows about a dozen people circling the large creature — they typically weight about 1,000 pounds, according to state wildlife officials — and hoisting it in the shallows of a boat launch ramp using a tarp or similar object.
The base thanked Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for helping with the rescue. Base personnel named the manatee Troy, which in Greek mythology is the hometown of Helen and the location of a Greek siege mounted to take her back from abductors.
“Troy is a male estimated to be 2-3 years old,” the base said in its post. “Thanks to the teamwork today, he has a long life ahead of him.”
The mammal’s population has rebounded to more than 8,000 in Florida, and the species was reclassified from endangered to threatened through federal legislation in 2017, according to the state conservation commission.
However, an unusual number of manatee deaths since 2020 inspired an investigation into why they’re dying more than usual, and the probe is ongoing, the commission said on its website.
