Wayward manatee alludes rescuers

A rescue team from Sea World could not rein in a wayward manatee swimming through the South Mississippi waterways on Jan. 13. Angela Levins, spokeswoman for the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama, said the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network got a call Jan. 10 about a manatee in the Biloxi River. The Stranding Network alerted Sea World Rescue, which has specialized equipment to help capture the manatee. Once captured, it would have been taken back to Sea World and eventually released in Crystal River, Fla. The rescue team arrived and has been following the manatee, trying to capture it from the Tchoutacabouffa River region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and South Mississippi’s Institute for Marine Mammal Studies also are involved in the efforts. However, the manatee alluded the rescue team several times, said Noel Wingers, coordinator for AMMSN. “We will regroup and try again,” she said. The manatee is believed to be among a group migrating back to the warmer waters for winter. There are an estimated 200 manatees in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The last count of Florida’s manatee population was about 6,000. (Source: Sun Herald 01/13/17)