Cape & Islands News

Cape manatee headed for SeaWorld in Orlando

Manatee rescued from Sesuit Harbor this morning
Wayward animal, dubbed Dennis, will be driven to SeaWorld Orlando

Rescue workers tend to Dennis the manatee, rescued Saturday from Sesuit Harbor.

Story and photos by James Kinsella

Dennis, the young male manatee who quickly achieved celebrity status in his autumn visit to Cape waters, was fetched from Sesuit Harbor on Saturday morning and placed in a truck for a 20-hour ride to SeaWorld Orlando in Florida.

Rescue workers from SeaWorld, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took about four hours to find Dennis, corral him, capture him in a purse seine net, lift him with a crane onto a mooring barge and take him to a landing, where a forklift brought him to the Penske rental truck in which the animal will travel to Florida.

Click here to see David Curran's video.

IFAW officials estimated that the manatee weighs between 800 and 1,000 pounds, and is about eight feet long.

Jon Peterson, supervisor of animal care at SeaWorld, said the manatee appeared to be in good shape. Peterson said Dennis showed signs of "mild cold stress" that consisted of slight discolorations at the animal's head and tail.
A health assessment was planned for the animal.

If Dennis truly was in good shape, the truck would leave for Florida as quickly as possible.

The stress is a reaction to the Cape's relatively cold water. Yesterday the temperature in Sesuit Harbor was 64 degrees, compared with the 76-degree water in which manatees more typically are found.
Manatees, also known as sea cows, are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Act and the federal Endangered Species Act.

The animals are slow-moving, amiable, curious creatures that subsist on vegetation. They are at special risk for collision with boats.

Spectators began arriving before 6:15 a.m., while it was still dark. By the time workers brought Dennis out of the water and onto land, around 10 a.m. hundreds of people were watching the rescue. At the request of the rescue workers and accompanying volunteers, the spectators kept applause, cheering and even loud talking to a minimum so as not to bother or disturb the animal.

The rescuers initially had hoped to transport Dennis to Florida in an airplane. But A.J. Cady, a director at IFAW, said no appropriate airplane was available yesterday to transport the manatee.

A four-member crew from SeaWorld will accompany Dennis on his trip to Florida, with two riding with the manatee in the back and two riding up front. The pairs will switch off.Workers transfer manatee from boat.

IFAW, which is based in Yarmouth Port, had been tracking the manatee in recent weeks. The animal, which is far north of its usual American habitat off Florida and Georgia, moved from the Fall River area, around the tip of the Cape in Provincetown, and down to Cape Cod's northern shore.

For the past few days, the animal had been in staying in Sesuit Harbor and nearby marshes.
Concerns that the cool water was hurting Dennis's health led the rescuers to push up the tentative timetable to get him out by Saturday.

Peterson said SeaWorld's mission is "rescue, rehabilitation and release." As such, SeaWorld plans to return Dennis to the ocean at some point, but Peterson couldn't say when.

No estimate was available yesterday from rescue officials on the cost of the effort. Extensive use of volunteers helped hold down costs, they said.

Asked the impetus for the rescue, Cady replied, "It's a threatened species, number one. And it's part of the natural heritage of the world and this planet. It's part of the natural diversity.... [To] reach out and rescue another creature is special."

Workers guide sling containing manatee to truck that will drive animal to Florida.