Lowry Park Zoo's manatee hospital funding in limbo

By MIKE BRASSFIELD, Times Staff Writer
Published August 30, 2007

TAMPA  

Since 1991, the manatee hospital at Lowry Park Zoo has treated nearly 200 sea cows that have been slashed by propellers, hit by boats, suffering from cold stress or poisoned by Red Tide.

Now its funding is in jeopardy as the state prepares for another round of budget cuts. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission put manatee rehabilitation on a list of proposed cuts for the Legislature to consider during a special session in three weeks.

The roughly $350,000 a year that the zoo's hospital would lose accounts for nearly half of its operating budget.

In the last two years, the zoo has released 22 treated manatees back into the wild. Florida's manatee population is estimated at about 3,000.

Lowry Park also has an observation area where zoo visitors can watch as staffers and volunteers work on sick, 1,000-pound manatees in 25,000-gallon rehabilitation pools.

Mike Brassfield can be reached at 813 226-3435 or brassfield@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 30, 2007, 02:13:17]