Powell, OH – Twin manatees, Millennium and Falcon, began their journey back to Florida late Monday night upon completion of their 22-month rehabilitation at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium after being rescued as orphans off the coast of Florida.
A member of the Zoo’s animal care team, along with one of the Zoo’s staff veterinarians, traveled with Millennium and Falcon, and confirmed that they arrived safely at the Miami Seaquarium. There, the twins will complete their final preparations to be released back to the area in the Florida Keys from which they were initially rescued.
Millennium and Falcon were orphaned at a young age when their mother, a manatee well-known to researchers who tracked her for years, suffered fatal boat-related injuries—a common fate for these aquatic mammals. The twins arrived at the Columbus Zoo weighing just over 100 pounds, making them some of the smallest manatees to arrive at the facility. (Previous arrivals weighed at least a couple hundred pounds while adults can reach up to 1,300 pounds.) Twin manatees are very rare, making up just 1 to 4 percent of manatee births.
With Millennium and Falcon now in Florida, the Columbus Zoo is currently caring for five manatees: Agua, Goober, Heavy Falcon, Carmen, and long-term resident, Stubby. Due to the extensive injuries she received from a boat strike, Stubby is a conditionally non-releasable animal. Her condition is evaluated every five years to determine if she is ready or not for release, but it is unlikely that she will move out of this category. Instead, she has often assumed the role of a surrogate mother looking after the other manatees and is the first to greet newcomers during their introduction to the Zoo’s Manatee Coast habitat.
“We care deeply about all off the manatees who have come to the Columbus Zoo for rehabilitation, so each goodbye is a little bittersweet, especially when it comes to these incredibly special twins. However, given how small they were when they first came under our care, we are also very proud to have helped Millennium and Falcon overcome their challenges so that now, at approximately 525 pounds each, they can be healthy enough to be released back to their native range. Our participation in the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership is extremely important to us, and we remain committed to working with our partners to care for other manatees in need of our assistance in the future,” said Becky Ellsworth, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s Shores region curator.
As part of the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP), the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is a second stage rehabilitation facility that provides a temporary home for manatees until they are ready for release back to the wild.
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. Information about manatees currently being tracked is available at www.manateerescue.org. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was the first program partner outside of the state of Florida and is one of only two facilities outside of Florida to care for manatees.
The threatened Florida manatee is at risk from both natural and man-made causes of injury and mortality, including entanglement in or ingestion of fishing gear, crushing by flood gates or locks, and exposure to cold stress, disease, boat strikes, and red tide.
In August, Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency due to impacts of red tide—a toxic algae bloom--in several counties. Though red tide events have occurred historically in Florida for centuries, in more recent years these events have grown significantly in scale and duration, suspected by researchers to be exacerbated by human activities. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found that this year red tide is affecting approximately 145 miles of Florida’s coastline, negatively impacting the state’s tourism industry and resulting in widespread fatalities of manatees, dolphins, fish, sea turtles, and other marine species. The governor’s action resulted in some additional funding to support MRP’s work, and the MRP continues to monitor the red tide event closely while remaining in frequent communication with State of Florida biologists and officials. As part of this collaboration, each manatee release is coordinated carefully to help the manatees avoid areas impacted by red tide. Additionally, the MRP employees a full-time biologist who travels throughout the state to check on the tracked manatees previously released as part of the MRP program to ensure they are not in need of assistance.
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium also supports field conservation projects for three of four living species of manatees through its Conservation Fund. Providing grants to researchers on three continents (North America, South America and Africa), the Zoo contributes to rescue and rehabilitation in Florida, environmental education focused on the Amazonian manatee in Colombia, and critical population surveys for the least known species: the West African manatee.
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About the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Home to more than 10,000 animals representing over 600 species from around the globe, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium leads and inspires by connecting people and wildlife. The Zoo complex is a recreational and education destination that includes the 22-acre Zoombezi Bay water park and 18-hole Safari Golf Course. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium also operates The Wilds, a 10,000-acre conservation center and safari park located in southeastern Ohio. The Zoo is a regional attraction with global impact; annually contributing more than $4 million of privately raised funds to support conservation projects worldwide. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Columbus Zoo has earned Charity Navigator’s prestigious 4-star rating.
