TAMPA, Fla. — A female manatee is recovering at ZooTampa in one of the zoo's critical care pools.
Last week, the manatee named Keeks was rescued by ZooTampa and officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The 525-pound marine mammal was found stranded and lethargic in Crystal River.
ZooTampa's Animal Health and Manatee team gave the manatee antibiotics and will monitor her behavior.
She has been rescued in the past and was previously under care at SeaWorld.
"Manatees are incredible animals. They can heal incredibly well, and so we can give them that supportive care. They do a lot of the healing on their own," said Molly Lippincott, ZooTampa Senior Curator of Florida and Marine Life.
ZooTampa is caring for 22 manatees at the David A. Straz, Jr. Manatee Critical Care Center.
Lippincott said the majority of manatees are treated for cold stress.
"We've received quite a few from Crystal River. Most of them are small animals that are underweight, and some of the things we're finding out pneumonia, underlying problems. They get abscesses like cold stress lesions on them so we're treating them for that, all of them so far are pretty stable. We've been able to get them over that initial hump," said Lippincott.
On Monday, zoo officials did an X-ray on the manatee. They are still working on a diagnosis but said the manatee is eating a little food and giving her plenty of fluids.
The team is busy with manatee rescues from December through March.
"Manatees are really vulnerable to cold weather, so normally they should migrate into warm water sites. If they stay in the cold water too long, they can get pretty ill. It’s like a frostbite or hypothermia, so a lot of the animals we’ve seen coming in are underweight," said Lippincott.
Wildlife officials said people should report a sick, injured, dead, or tagged manatee.
People may call FWC's Wildlife Alert Toll-Free Number: 1-888-404-FWCC (1-888-404-3922) and press "7" to speak with an operator.
Cellular phone customers may dial *FWC or #FWC.
