Drone video shows the initial rescue of an approximately 9-foot-long manatee, which was discovered in the waters of Marathon in the Florida Keys with a pneumothorax condition.
MARATHON, Fla. – An injured manatee is finally receiving treatment for life-threatening injuries on Friday, after the Florida brush fires blocked access to the facility that could help it.
Drone video showed the initial rescue of the approximately 9-foot-long manatee, which was discovered in the waters of Marathon in the Florida Keys.
The injured animal was first tended to by personnel with the Dolphin Research Center’s Manatee Rescue Team, plus a team with Aquarium Encounters marine park.
The injured manatee.
(Daniel Eidsmoe / FOX Weather)
They found that the manatee was suffering from a pneumothorax condition, in which air builds up in the space between a lung and chest wall and causes the animal to appear bloated, the DRC said.
“There’s essentially a balloon that’s being created, pushing down on his lung,” said Allie Prokovec, the director of media and marketing with the Dolphin Research Center.
She noted that the danger of this condition is that, once that “balloon” becomes larger, it naturally moves that side of the animal upward to the surface, pushing the animal over to its side while it is in the water.
It also puts pressure on the lung, which can lead to it collapsing. Prokovec added that the pneumothorax condition can also put greater pressure on the lung on the other side of the manatee’s body, increasing the potential for that lung to collapse, as well.
Drone shot of the rescue.
(Daniel Eidsmoe / FOX Weather)
She noted the urgency for treating the pneumothorax condition, which is often caused by a boat strike.
“It depends on how hard that boat hit them. It depends on how much air is getting in there,” she said. “There’s a lot of factors, but sometimes you have just a matter of a couple of days before you are in, basically, a situation that can’t really be reversed.”
The typical procedure for treating a manatee with this condition involves the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) transporting the animal to a rehabilitation facility in Central Florida.
However, the brush fires that have been blazing across parts of Florida had shut down the state’s 18-Mile Stretch highway, the primary route to the Keys, where the manatee was found.
The manatee was held and stabilized by the DRC until the FWC could access the Keys and transport the animal.
Teams with the Dolphin Research Center’s Manatee Rescue Team and Aquarium Encounters.
(Daniel Eidsmoe)
The transport was finally able to happen on Friday morning, after the 18-Mile Stretch highway was reopened. Prokovec said the FWC was transporting the manatee to Sea World, where the animal will receive full medical treatment for its condition.