“We are still relatively successful at being able to get a lot of these back to the wild,” Walker says. “A lot of times they just need somewhere safe where they can recover. Safety, food, no stress.”
Orphaned manatees typically take a lot longer to make that return. Manatee calves and their moms keep physical contact 100% of the time, so separation needs the treatment of a child’s psychological health together with any injuries or disorders.
A child at Wildtracks starts its rehab journey in a little swimming pool with an individual in the water all the time to use convenience merely by existing in the exact same space.
“That’s the way you stabilize a calf and make it want to live, give it the will to live,” Walker says. “That in-water presence has made the difference between struggling to get a calf to feed and it reaching the point where it’s quite happy to feed. It needs to feel trust.”
The manatee gets a swimming pool floaty—the sea cow equivalent of a packed animal—that sticks with them as they move from little swimming pool to big swimming pool to fenced-off lagoon water. The animal gets formula to start and graduates to much-anticipated “banana smoothies” that load the nutrients and fats required to gain weight. Detailed, customized care strategies and a soft release into a confined part of the lagoon prior to the wild have actually assisted Wildtracks effectively restore these threatened animals. It’s why Mitch and Lucky—bobbing near the coast—required no intervention years after their release.
