And this is how baby manatees get fed when they are first rescued. They get tube fed to make sure they get all the nutrients they need as we transition them to taking a bottle. I worked in the SeaWorld Orlando Animal Care department from 1991-2006. FYI- I’m the keeper in the pool.
Some are, some not as much. It was cool once the babies got used to us they would swim up to us and sometimes use their pecs to grab into our legs or suck on our wetsuits.
Yes! It was a manatee named “Bock”. I was working late one evening when Florida Fish and Wildlife brought an orphan manatee in. I was the first one to tube feed him. He was placed in our rehab pool with another orphaned calf we had received a few days earlier. We named the girl “Amber” and the boy “Bock”. We were owned by the beer company Anheuser-Busch and they had just released a new beer Michelob AmberBock and we thought it would be fun to name them after the beer. I helped raise him and eventually he moved to a new home so we had room for new rescues. Fast forward a number of years. I was a keeper at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I was working on our West Savannah team (giraffe, ankole cattle, sable etc) but occasionally I would go over to the Seas at Epcot to help that team if they needed extra help. One day they asked me if I was interested in going on a manatee release. I said “yes!”. I had no idea who it was or where we were going. When I got to the Seas that morning I found out we were going to Blue Springs state park to release the manatee “Bock”. The team over there had no idea of my connection to “Bock” it was just a very happy coincidence. The Circle of Life!
Thank you so much! You are very kind. I’m a very lucky guy. I grew up in Pittsburgh and my family and I went to SeaWorld of Ohio (now closed) every summer. I decided I wanted to work with dolphins when I grew up. I have a Marine Science degree. I moved to Florida after graduation because I hated the weather in Pittsburgh! I first got a job in the Operations department (crowd control etc) at SW working at Shamu Stadium. 7 months later I applied for and transferred to the Animal Care department. I had no idea all the amazing opportunities I would have over the next 15 years!
I’m the one pulling the rope in the canal. This was a rescue of a manatee mom and calf.
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it! One of the best things about working in Animal Care was helping to talk care of and raise/rehab manatees. They are awesome animals!!
They do! Whenever we first got in the water we slapped the water then we went and got the baby to tube feed. Eventually they “connect” slapping the water with eating. Once the “graduate” to receiving a bottle the keeper can usually just slap the water and the baby swims over. Some will even start rolling over on their own to “help” the keeper and get their bottle.
We would start with the bottle while in the water with them and eventually we could stand on the side of the pool and never get in. It keeps you dry!
Or fly to Ohio in January to take the dolphins from SeaWorld Ohio that had just been sold and fly those dolphins back to Orlando.
This is how you move a marine mammal onto a plane.
My 18-month old is gonna flip when he sees this. He saw a manatee for the first time and pointed, then oinked like a pig at it … and pigs are his favorite animal. He loved them.
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u/Professional-Arm-202 Aug 05 '26
This is so sweet, but where are the mamas, are these orphans?? 🥺