Once the manatee
was on board, the
marine scientists and
researchers went to
work. respiration was
monitored to determine if the animal
was in distress. then a
full health assessment
followed with blood
drawn and fecal material sampled as well
as a skin sample from
the edge of the fluke.
the length and girth
measurements were
recorded as well as
any identifying marks
on the animal. a tag,
similar to a crab float,
was attached to the
fluke.
“One of my goals is to be out explaining to people what we’re doing, why
we’re doing it and why we care about
these animals.
“everybody who reports seeing one of
these animals is part of our program,
part of our network. We couldn’t do
it without people on the water who
report the sightings and give us information.”
anyone who spots a manatee, please
report the sighting 24-7 toll free at
1-866-493-5803, online at manatee.disl.
org or via email to [email protected].
a Facebook page is located at https://
www.facebook.com/mobilemanatees.
PHOtOS: (By Billy Pope) Manatee
Project participants were able to locate
a pair of male manatees in the Dog
river area near Mobile Bay recently.
“thankfully, none of our animals had any problems,” Carmichael said. the specially designed capture boat
from Sea World with a removable tran“everything worked out well. they were released and swam away.”
som was used to bring the 1,200-pound
Carmichael said the Sea lab supplies manatee habitat area signs free of charge animal onboard to be