Baby manatee under observation
On Tuesday morning the Coastal Zone Management Project received a phone call about a manatee calf that was found stranded in Vista Del Mar. The baby, estimated to be only four or five months old, was rescued and then relocated to the abandoned shrimp hatchery at mile five on the Western Highway. There the mammal is being kept alive in a pond and being monitored around the clock by a group of volunteers. According to Andrea Gill, a manatee researcher and one of the volunteers recording the manatee’s progress, they believe the calf’s mother was killed and they are working hard for her baby’s survival. Gill says while they have been making some progress they do need some assistance.
Andrea Gill, Manatee Researcher
“Right now we have a little bit of problems with feeding but so far he seems to be doing okay. He is taking his formula and everything. Like I said we have problems every now and then – he won’t want to feed and stuff like that. But so far I think we have it under control.”
Q: “How is it being kept alive?”
Andrea Gill
“Right now we have it in a holding tank.”
Q: “Who is doing the monitoring?”
Andrea Gill
“Right now we have a group of people who are part of the Belize Marine Mammal Stranded Network that falls underneath the U.N.D.P. Coastal Zone Management Project and these are volunteers. They are people from all sectors of government and non-governmental organizations and they are all volunteers helping us.”
Q: “I noticed you guys are working in shifts?”
Andrea Gill
“Yes we had to arrange shifts because really the manatee needs to be monitored every second, every hour of the day while we have it in captivity. So what we had to do is arrange shifts. Like last night I was on the eleven to five shift in the morning and it is no joke you know being up and you can’t really fall asleep; you have to be there. You have to see every time it comes up for air; you have to note that down. We have feeding hours; we have scheduled feeding hours which is every three hours so you have to be up to make sure you feed it on schedule.”
If you would like to assist in the mammal’s survival you can help by either becoming a volunteer or giving monetary donations to help in buying food for the mammal and crew. You can contact the Coastal Zone Management Project at telephone number 30719 or 35739.
