The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is honored to be part of the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP), an ongoing partnership for more than 20 years.
The MRP is a cooperative group of non-profit, private, state, and federal entities who work together to monitor the health and survival of rehabilitated and released manatees.
- The Columbus Zoo is one of a handful of facilities outside of the state of Florida to rehabilitate manatees and one of only two in Ohio.
- The Columbus Zoo is also a second stage rehabilitation facility that provides a temporary home for manatees until they are ready for release back to the wild.
Success Story
Eight manatees from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens were flown more than 1,000 miles back to their temporary Florida homes recently, marking the successful culmination of more than two years of rescue work by four zoological/marine institutions to save the beloved sea cows.
In an intricate operation, the manatees – weighing a total of almost 6,000 pounds – were placed in custom-built containers to help them travel safely and then driven to the Cincinnati International Airport at the DHL Express Global hub. All of the manatees were loaded onto a specially scheduled DHL cargo plane to head to Florida, where they will complete the final stages of their rehabilitation journey before they return to the waters where they were initially rescued.
