PAGE 8 - April 15, 2009
THE NEWSCASTER-Nature Coast News
Process Begins For Service Academy Applications
Baby Manatee  - Continued from page 1
To be considered for an appointment to a service academy, an applicant must meet
care, and has some ups and downs as she continues to adjust,” said Rachel Nelson, Director
the eligibility requirements established by law and be nominated from an authorized person
of Public Relations for Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. Nelson was referring to Virginia Edmonds,
including a Member of the United States Senate or the House of Representatives. Rep.
Assistant Curator of Florida Mammals. “Although not technically the smallest orphan ever
Ginny Brown-Waite may nominate applicants who are legally domiciled within the bound-
treated, she is very tiny and will be considered critical for a long time.” Nelson reported Kee
aries of the 5th District of Florida.
is being cared for 24/7 by only three keepers, making the task of feeding the orphan a full-time
An applicant for a nomination must meet the following eligibility requirements as of
job for each. “They go into the pool to care for her,” Nelson adds. As the task of removing
July 1 of the year of admission to a service academy. He or she must be at least 17 years old,
the manatee from the water for weight checks is highly disruptive to her adjustment, caregivers
but not have passed the 23rd birthday, must be a United States citizen, and must be unmar-
have chosen to delay checks to keep Kee’s stress and anxiety levels low.
ried, not pregnant, and have no legal obligation to support children or other dependents.
Keepers at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo have paired the baby manatee with an adult
Students interested in a nomination should contact the Congresswoman’s Spring
female manatee named Pneuport who has been cared for at the zoo.
Hill office in the spring of their junior year in high school. Also, please note that it is
“The baby and the cow have reacted positively to one another, often seen nuzzling and
extremely important that the student begin the application process with the academies them-
sleeping together, and the baby will sometimes swim on the cow’s back,” Nelson said. “The
selves. For more information, please call 352-799-8354 or toll-free 866-492-4835
keepers say Pneuport is very sweet and attentive, even nudging them when they hold the
baby to feed her, signaling that she wants her back.”
While there is a long road to recovery ahead for the orphaned manatee, staff at the
David A. Straz Jr. Manatee Hospital are up for the task. They have nursed hundreds of other
manatees back to health, many of which have been returned to Florida’s open waters.
Kee is the second smallest orphaned manatee that keepers have tended to, and while her
condition will remain critical for some time, they are hopeful that she will make it.
“She did not arrive the smallest, but very close,” Nelson said of Kee when brought to the
facility by FWC. “She was 50 pounds, and we had a 48-pound newborn named Buttonwood
in 2003 who did not survive.”
So how did this tiny little manatee end up all alone in the murky waters of the
Withlacoochee River? Along with the arrival of spring comes the arrival of babies of all kinds.
Manatees are known to birth in groups, with the delivering female being encircled by larger
females and males attentive to the conditions surrounding the birthing place. Kee’s mother
must have been scared off from her youngling, and unable to relocate her baby prior to
humans becoming involved in Kee’s rescue.
A call from concerned residents on the river was Kee’s saving grace, and the reason she’s
alive today.
Most babies, especially those of Kee’s age and size, cannot survive Mother Nature’s
tortuous conditions, not to mention the increase in Florida’s busiest boating summer boating
season.
Construction on the new bridge to span the Cross State Barge Canal just south of
The Withlacoochee River is a favorite refuge for manatees of all ages, but usually
Inglis is seen above for those that wonder what is going on but don't want to drive
later in the year – summertime – when the tannic-stained river warms up on its meandering
path from the Green Swamp origins to the Gulf at Yankeetown. The river is one of Florida’s
down under the old bridge to investigate. The supports on the new bridge will be on
oldest, with solid rock bottoms pockmarked by nature where old mastodon bones and mod-
the barge canal banks with this design. When this new bridge is complete, the old
ern fishing gear can be found snagged. The river is joined by the spring-fed Rainbow River
one will come down and a new one will replace it. A bike/walking path across the new
at Dunnellon where clarity improves. Mother manatees favor the many canals in Inglis and
bridge with a barrier from the cars will make crossing the bridge safe and the Greenways
Yankeetown for birthing.
and Trails easy to reach. Photo by Sally Price
Ten miles to the south, manatees are now leaving Crystal River and Homosassa
A.B.A.
River, both spring fed and a constant 72 degrees as the Gulf warms up to 85-90 degrees by
summer. Then they can be found in the Withlacoochee River and others, which will be
warmer than the springs in the Crystal and Homosassa.
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Boaters should be on the lookout for meandering and birthing manatees to avoid
collisions that can cause serious injury and death. Boat collisions are among the top causes
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Writer Janel Heflin participated in manatee research with Dr. Edmund Gerstein
Ultra Violet Air Filtering
and others at the Lowry Park Zoo in the 1990s. She writes regularly about manatees for
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Community News Publications, tagged On The Manatee Trail.
FWC restricts boating on all 5 Suwannee zones
of germs & dust
Reduce Sickness & Allergies
When Suwannee River floodwaters at Wilcox rose above 9 feet Sunday, the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) activated boating restrictions on the only
Family Owned & Operated
zone of the river that hadn’t been restricted yet.
This section, Zone 4, is from the County Road 340 Bridge at Rock Bluff to one mile below
the Fowler Bluff Boat Ramp. This 51-mile segment will be an idle-speed, no-wake zone as long
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as the Suwannee is at 9 feet or more above mean sea level, as indicated on the Wilcox gauge,
License #CACO 57707
where flood stage is 11 feet. Boating restrictions on the other four zones were activated last
week.
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