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Release No. 3 for Mo the wayward manatee

The sea cow has bounced from one rehab center to another, learning to be wild, since being captured as an orphan in 1994.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published August 10, 2005

	[Times photo: Ron Thompson]
	Mo peeks over the side of the release boat Tuesday while handlers load the 1,155-pound manatee before release into Kings Bay. Mo has been living at the Miami Seaquarium and learning to eat saltwater plants.

CRYSTAL RIVER - For the 1,155-pound manatee hauled from a rental truck into a boat and released into Kings Bay on Tuesday, it was one Mo chance.

Workers from the Miami Seaquarium drove Mo the wayward manatee to the Port Motel and Marina and prepared him for one more try at freedom. Mo was originally captured as an orphan in the Withlacoochee River in 1994 and was hand raised, which can make it more difficult to prepare an animal for release because they have learned very little about being a wild manatee.

"The reason he is significant is that this is the third time he is being released and we've never done this with any other animal," said Nicole Adimey of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Jacksonville office.

Officials hope that this time Mo takes to freedom.

The manatee's first failed attempt at being wild included a long swim to the Dry Tortugas in 1998, but he is also well known throughout the state for another reason: He has lived at every Florida facility that rehabilitates manatees except for the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, Adimey said.

He was released again in Crystal River in February 2002. But just before he spent a year in the wild, he was found in Sulfur Springs in Hillsborough County, emaciated and injured from a boat strike.

The Miami Seaquarium has been Mo's home for most of the past year. There, animal keepers worked to teach him what he needs to survive in the wild. One of his problems has been that he was not used to life in saltwater and didn't recognize foods that were available in saltwater.

"He didn't know what to eat," Adimey said. "And he's been acclimated now to life in saltwater."

She said that her agency's philosophy is that if this release doesn't work, it can at least be sure that it has done whatever it could to try to help this animal. "We will have done the best we could," Adimey said. "It would just be a commentary on the animal's ability to adapt."

When Mo and his keepers arrived at the resort's boat ramp Tuesday afternoon, a small group of hotel and restaurant guests gathered around to watch while officials from the Seaquarium, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lowry Park Zoo and the Wildlife Trust measured, examined and prepared the dark gray animal for release.

They wrapped the manatee in a bright blue sling and lugged him onto a mechanical truck lift to lower him onto the boat ramp. Then, in short bursts, the crew slowly moved Mo into the back of the Fish and Wildlife Service's rescue boat. But by the time they had gotten him that far, he was beginning to protest, flipping over on his back inside the sling.

The group struggled to roll him. Mo protested further, whacking two of the workers with his massive tail. At one point it seemed the animal wanted to roll right into the water there and then, but the crew managed to get him back in position. Their plan was to get him out into the bay somewhere near other wild manatees, which would hopefully show him what to do.

As they awaited the arrival of Lowry Park Zoo's veterinarian, David Murphy, one worker sprayed and poured water over Mo's back and face while others in the boat tried to center the animal.

Before the boat pulled away from the boat ramp, the crew hurried to attach a breakaway belt to the animal's tail. The belt is tethered to a satellite transmitter that floats behind the manatee when it surfaces; it should allow Mo's movements to be tracked.

Mo's farewell to those gathered at the spot was to flip up on his side again just as the boat pulled away from the marina.

One Seaquarium employee summed it up for the gathered: "Third time's the charm," he said.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 10, 2005, 00:36:13]