Antillean manatees cruise the coastlines of Puerto Rico, spending most of their time feeding on the sea grass. But while they graze, they are vulnerable to being struck by speeding jet-skis and boats. At the Manatee Conservation Center, just outside the capital city of San Juan, several injured individuals and orphans are on their way to release in the wild.
TRANSCRIPT
Puerto Rican manatees cruise these waters, spending most of their time feeding on the sea grass.
But while they graze, they are vulnerable to being struck by speeding jet skis and boats.
There are fewer than 700 manatees alive today in Puerto Rico... And with so few left, the survival of each individual is important.
Just outside the capital city of San Juan, is the Manatee Conservation Center.
Tony Mignucci rehabilitates injured and orphaned manatees here.
He has three pools where manatees in need can be cared for.
The smallest pool holds baby Tureyguá, who became separated from his mother at birth.
He is still being fed formula 6 times a day... Guacara is in the biggest pool.
Unfortunately, he was so badly injured after being hit by a boat, he will never swim well enough to be returned to the ocean.
But he is happily spending his retirement playing on his float.
And in the middle pool are two juvenile manatees that Tony is preparing to return to the wild.
Both are getting used to wearing tail collars, so they can be satellite tracked after their release.
Tony: In this tank we have Yuisa and Aramana.
They were brought in as calves.
Aramana, the male, was orphaned by its mother in the town of Dorado, 4 and a half years ago.
Yuisa got separated from its mother because of high tide and bad weather and the Mom couldn't find it anymore.
So we brought her.
She is only 2 and a half years old and she has outgrown the older male.
Our last release was 6 years ago and what is special about this release is that this will be our first time releasing a pair together.
They have been in the pool bonding for the past 6 months in the hope that they will stay together.
If they did it would be a beautiful story.
