2 rescued manatees newest guests at Clearwater Marine Aquarium's new manatee rehab center

Manatee rehab center opens at Clearwater Aquarium

You can now see manatees up close at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where a manatee rehabilitation center opened this week.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Yeti and Zamboni are the Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s newest guests.

"When we put the stretcher in the water, Yeti was very calm, and we got them all unhooked, and he swam out," CMA Manatee Rehabilitation Manager Tanya Ward said. "Zamboni, to me, is a little bit spunkier. He felt the water, and he's like, ‘I'm good. I'm ready to go.’ So, I do kind of see that they all have their little quirks."

The manatees arrived at CMA’s new Manatee Rehabilitation Center, a second stage rehab facility, from ZooTampa about two weeks ago. Both were rescued for cold stress, similar to hypothermia, earlier this year.

READ: Beloved manatee, one of the oldest in Florida, dies at ZooTampa

"Being second stage, we are doing a very important role, because we took these two that aren't yet ready for release, and that freed up space for ZooTampa to take in more critical care cases," Ward said.

"Our goal is to move into critical care in the future to also allow to free up space from other facilities," Ward said.

According to CMA, there is a surge in manatees requiring care across the region.

The CMA team will monitor Yeti and Zamboni’s behaviors, like how they eat, and if they spend all their time together, before they release them back into the wild in December.

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"The idea of putting them out in the winter is, we hope, that they will follow other manatees, and learn that behavior," Ward said.

She said the hope is that they will follow other manatees to the warmer waters. The Rehab Center opened to the public on Monday.

"It’s kind of like if you ended up in a hospital, you want to keep it quiet. Your doctors just want to make sure that you're okay. You know, sometimes you can have visitors. Sometimes you cannot. It's the same thing with them. We just wanted to make sure that they were eating, that they were adjusting," Ward said.

The Center also has an interactive, educational component.

"I enjoy coming down here and talking to the public and telling them it's great to see them up close. It's a good experience, but when you're out in the wild, you want to have respect for them and keep your distance," she said.

The Center is a partnership with the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership, the FWC, Duke Energy Foundation and others. CMA’s Research Institute tags and tracks animals they release, and they’re hoping to do the same with the manatees, so they’re able to monitor them when they’re back in the wild and help them if they need it.

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