Historic North Carolina rescue ends in Florida release :: WRAL.com
Pamlico the Manatee Returns to Florida Waters After Historic North Carolina Rescue
A 9-foot female manatee named Pamlico, the first of her kind to be successfully rescued in North Carolina, has been released back into the wild after months of rehabilitation. The manatee was medically cleared for release by SeaWorld Orlando and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and returned to Florida waters on Thursday.
Pamlico’s journey began last fall when she was found stranded in North Carolina, suffering from cold stress—a life-threatening condition for manatees, which cannot survive in water temperatures below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Her rescue marked a historic milestone, as it was the first recorded successful manatee rescue in the state.
“This was an impressive team effort with organizations from North Carolina to Florida coming together to successfully rescue, transport, rehabilitate, and release this manatee,” said Terri Calleson, FWS’s Florida Manatee Recovery Lead.
The release took place at the TECO Manatee Viewing Center at Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station in Apollo Beach, a designated manatee sanctuary known for its warm discharge canal. The site serves as a critical “warm-up station” for manatees during colder months. Pamlico was identified through the sanctuary’s photo ID database, which tracks individual manatees based on their unique markings.
Experts say Pamlico’s rescue highlights a growing trend: manatees are venturing farther north along the Atlantic coast due to warming ocean temperatures caused by climate change. “As global climate change continues to create warmer ocean temperatures, this is creating more suitable habitat areas for manatees along the Atlantic coast, causing them to venture farther away from Florida,” said Alison Loftis, Assistant Stranding Coordinator at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW).
While this expansion of habitat may seem positive, it comes with risks. “Water temperatures in the fall and winter can drop rapidly in North Carolina, trapping manatees in dangerously cold water and putting them at high risk of cold stress, as we saw in Pamlico’s case,” Loftis explained.
The successful rescue and release of Pamlico involved a collaborative effort across multiple states and agencies. FWS officials noted that manatee rescues have occurred as far north as Massachusetts, but North Carolina’s colder winters pose unique challenges.
Loftis emphasized the importance of community involvement in protecting manatees. “Through community-based science, everyone can be a part of manatee conservation by submitting manatee sighting information to researchers,” she said. “Through valuable information collected from sighting reports, biologists can learn more about how manatees are using our waters and the best ways to protect them.”
The public is encouraged to report any sightings of injured or deceased manatees in North Carolina to the 24-hour marine mammal stranding hotline at 910-515-7354. Healthy manatee sightings can be submitted to the UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Program.
Pamlico’s story is a testament to the power of collaboration and the importance of protecting these gentle giants as they navigate the changing waters of the Atlantic coast.