CLEARWATER, Fla. — Clearwater police joined officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in helping to rescue a manatee that was found stranded on Bird Island.
According to a statement from the Clearwater Police Department, it happened around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
Officials from all three agencies responded to reports of a stranding on the island and arrived to find a nearly 11-foot female manatee near the shore.
The 10-foot-11 manatee was estimated to be between 10 and 20 years old, weighing around 1,000 pounds.
Working together, representatives from all three agencies kept the manatee coated with water while they cared for her and checked on her health. Then, with the help of roughly a dozen people, they got the manatee onto a fabric stretcher and carefully moved her back to the Intracoastal Waterway by around 10:30 a.m.
Further details about what might have been wrong with the manatee or what caused the stranding are unknown at this time.
