A MANATEE’S JOURNEY FROM RESCUE TO RELEASE

Peter Gros: [00:00:00] Sprinkled along the coast of Florida, you can find warm freshwater springs. [00:00:04]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:00:07] Ever hear of the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon's search for the Fountain of Youth in Florida? It was probably just a freshwater spring. [00:00:15]

Peter Gros: [00:00:16] water is so clear it's easy to see all the fish and plant life that thrive in this ecosystem. One of the reasons they're so rich with life is due to a constant water temperature that provides a warmer habitat in the winter months. [00:00:29]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:00:30] One species that relies on those warm waters of Florida Springs is the manatee. These massive herbivorous marine mammals spend most of their time sleeping and feeding underwater, coming up for air every 20 minutes or so. [00:00:44]

Peter Gros: [00:00:45] Many believe the manatee was the inspiration for sailors' stories of mermaid sightings. [00:00:49]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:00:50] The theory behind that is, is that some of the fishermen on the ships back in the day might have been suffering from nutritional deficiencies such as scurvy and may not have completely had their wits about them and may have seen these creatures and mistaken them for a mermaid. [00:01:09]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:01:12] On today's episode, we're going to meet someone who knows, better than most, the myths and the realities of these gentle giants. [00:01:19]

Peter Gros: [00:01:20] I'm Peter Gros, Wildlife Expert and Educator. [00:01:22]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:01:23] And I'm wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, and this is Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the podcast, episode two, A Manatee's Journey from Rescue to Release. [00:01:34]

Peter Gros: [00:01:44] Manatees are found in Central and South America and along the west coast of Africa. Because of their slow grazing behavior, some people call them sea cows. [00:01:53]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:01:54] Unfortunately, this slow nature and tendency to feed on the water's surface puts them in danger of boat strikes. Propellers cutting into manatees has been an issue for decades. On the original Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom series, Marlin Perkins dove off the coast of Florida and observed firsthand manatees scarred by boat strikes. [00:02:15]

Marlin Perkins: [00:02:17] One of our objectives is to see how many of the sea cows show propeller marks on their backs, scars left by the slashing props of boats passing over them. Many of the animals carry these marks. [00:02:30]

Peter Gros: [00:02:32] In this season of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild, Rae and I had a chance to meet some of the dedicated people working to safeguard the species. [00:02:41]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:02:42] Our guest today is Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid. As a senior staff veterinarian at SeaWorld Rescue in Orlando, Dr. Claire spends a lot of her time caring for all sorts of wildlife, including manatees suffering from propeller wounds. From a young age, she knew that when she grew up, she wanted to advocate and care for manatees. [00:03:03]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:03:04] I’ve known what I've wanted to do since I was five years old. I'm from Georgia originally, so we actually spent a lot of family vacations going to different zoos and aquariums. And one of those was SeaWorld Orlando. And I think that is when I first became aware of manatees. When we visited there, not only did I get to see them right in front of my face, but we bought a book. It was a SeaWorld published book called Siren's Song. And on the third page of that book, there was a picture of a rescue worker bottle feeding a baby orphaned manatee calf. And the picture just pulled at my heartstrings. Not only that, but they used the quote on that page below the picture. They wrote, for in the end, we will conserve what we love. love what we understand and understand what we are taught. I realized at that moment, not only did I want to work with SeaWorld and want to help rescue manatees and hopefully one day even get to bottle feed a baby manatee, but I also realized by that quote that if I wanted to help conserve and protect the species along with many other species on our planet that I had to educate and inspire and make sure other people were aware of these species and be inspired to help protect them as well. [00:04:22]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:04:26] When I visited Dr. Claire for our episode, I got to see her at work and see how dedicated she is to these animals. And then when we connected for this interview, she was wearing manatee earrings and had manatee art on her walls. This passion for the manatees and truly all conservation was there, even as a - [00:04:46]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:04:47] Before social media existed, I used to draw a bunch of posters of animals that would say, help save the endangered animals or help save the endangered sea turtle. And I would post them all over my school, all over the library. And then anytime I would visit Florida and stay in a hotel, I would ask the hotel if they would hang up the posters. I would tell the receptionist in the lobby that I wanted other people to become aware of these animals and wanna help protect them too. That sounds surreal. [00:05:16]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:05:16] I mean, it sounds like an absolutely amazing yet surreal journey of being a kid and visiting SeaWorld Orlando, where you must be calling me from right now, you know, and wanting to work with manatees. And now that's what you do for a living. And so, okay, we just got to rewind a little bit because you're an expert. So this comes secondhand. But for anyone listening to us right now, who isn't quite sure what a manatee is? [00:05:46]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:05:48] is a manatee. So a manatee is the world's only herbivorous marine mammal. It's a very large marine mammal that has little tiny hairs all over its body. It is related to the elephant. And also interestingly, a very small mammal called the hyrax. Similar to an elephant, they do have very dense thick skin that's gray in appearance. Their hairs on their body are very important and sensory. along with the little whiskers or what we call vibrissae on their muzzles. That's very important for sensory and tactile, not only with communicating with each other, but also with collecting sea grasses and food. And they also have nails on their front flippers, similar to elephants having nails. And I mean, manatees, I could talk about them for hours because not only are they absolutely adorable, but their anatomy is completely amazing. One of the more interesting facts about their anatomy is their lung position. And how I describe it to people is if you were to take a clear water bottle that's about half full, tilt it on its side in a horizontal position and where the cap of the water bottle is, you can imagine, is the head. And the bottom of the water bottle would be where the tail is. And when you tilt it on its side, the air bubble that is created at the top. of the bottle when it's in the horizontal position, is where the lungs are located in manatee. Like from head to tail? Yes, from head to tail. Yes, that is a great way of describing it. And so their lungs being positioned along their back helps them stay in that horizontal position. Each lung has an individual diaphragm. And not only that, but if you think about it from a scuba diving perspective. They're perfectly designed to do what they do all day and to swim horizontally and eat seagrasses and that completely amazes me and there's no other mammal that I can think of that is like that. [00:07:43]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:07:44] That is amazing. I mean, yeah, thank you for telling us what's going on on the inside of their bodies because just looking at them from the outside is pretty amazing. They're spectacular. They're big. How big are they? [00:07:55]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:07:55] They can get up to 1,500 pounds, or possibly even larger, but most of them average around 1,000 to ,200 pounds when they're adults. [00:08:04]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:08:04] I think of manatees as fresh water animals? I mean, perhaps it's because I haven't had a lot of experience with manatees, but when I did, it was in the springs of Florida, which are fresh water. But is that accurate? Can they also go into saltwater? They can. [00:08:18]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:08:19] in both saltwater and freshwater. Absolutely. Various species of manatees are found in the oceans around the world. That is another unique adaptation of manatees that separates them from other marine mammals. So it's unique that manatees can go both in freshwater and or they have amazing osmoregulatory abilities to do that. For the manatee. [00:08:40]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:08:40] that I got to visit with you at SeaWorld Orlando, do they have a preferred habitat? I heard you say that manatees are around the world, but for the ones that we were looking at, what kind of habitat are they seeking out? [00:08:54]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:08:55] So the manatees off the coast of Florida, they can be found again in freshwater, saltwater or brackish waters. Typically they're gonna be going to a place that has a high density of sea grasses since that is their preferred food. But around the cold winter months, the manatees do tend to congregate in freshwater springs for the warm temperature. This doesn't always coordinate to where food is however, so they may have to leave the spring temporarily. to get to a food source and then they'll go back into the spring. They also will tend to congregate where power plants are, where there might be warm water discharges. Does something bad happen to them if they get cold? If they're in water that's below 68 degrees Fahrenheit for a prolonged period of time, they can succumb to what we call cold stress, which is actually a myriad of issues that occur in them. Systemically, one of the ways that you can tell that manatee might have cold stress is they'll often develop lesions on their skin and they can die from this if they're in cold water for too long of a period. [00:10:00]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:10:02] In the warmer months, when surrounding water temperatures have risen to comfortable levels, manatees will venture out from the freshwater springs to feed. But this increases the risk of being hit by boaters or finding themselves tangled up in fishing ropes. [00:10:17]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:10:18] Watercraft injuries and entanglements are one of the major reasons that manatees are rescued and rehabilitated in Florida. The unfortunate thing about their amazing anatomy is that when they are hit by a boat, you know the lungs are right along their back as I was describing earlier and so their lungs are what are most likely to get injured when they are hit by a boat because that's part that's usually exposed or hit by the bottom of the boat. and it can cause ribs to fracture and then the ribs can often penetrate the lung and other organs too within their body.. [00:10:56]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:10:56] If you are brought a manatee that has been hit in this way by a watercraft and it has that injury to its lungs. Is there anything you can do? [00:11:06]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:11:07] Yes. The first thing we do when all manatees come into our facility for rehabilitation is, you know, we do a full physical examination. We get a blood sample from them because the blood sample can tell us a lot about what's going on internally. And then we'll take radiographs and the radiographs will often show us whether or not there's a fractured rib or whether or not the lung has been damaged in one way or another. When a rib punctures a lung, air from the lung then escapes into the thoracic cavity. So one benefit to the manatee's anatomy is because each lung is separated by a separate diaphragm, usually just one lung and one side of the animal will be impacted or affected. Does that mean it's more likely you can fix it? Yes, yes. It does make it easier to treat them. They will tend to list or float abnormally to one side. In most cases, we have to do what's called a thoracocentesis. We actually, under ultrasound guidance, insert a needle into the thoracic cavity and then suction out the air. And sometimes one time is enough to do the trick and the animal resumes normal buoyancy and the lung heals up on its own. Many times it requires a repeat procedure and over time the lung should heal. There are various degrees of injury, so there unfortunately have been cases. where the lung is so damaged that the animal is unable to survive despite our best efforts. [00:12:37]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:12:38] I was visiting you when we were recording our episode of the television show. There were a lot of manatees under your care. There were a lot of manatees that we released back into the wild that day. It seemed like this constant conveyor belt of injured manatees coming in, you all rehabilitating them and releasing them back into the wild. And so I'm curious, is there like an average number that you all receive a year or a season or month on [00:13:07]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:13:08] average per year, I'd say we normally get anywhere from 55 to 70 manatees. However, we have had exceptional years where we've gotten close to 100, if not possibly exceeding 100. Currently, in -house, at this moment while I'm speaking to you, we have 31 manatees in -house. And you're absolutely correct about being a revolving door. We actually, one hour before I started speaking with you guys, we got a new manatee that was rescued, an orphan calf that was brought in from the East Coast of Florida. And yeah, just a few weeks ago, we returned some to the wild. Another interesting aspect of the whole manatee rescue and rehabilitation partnership is when we start getting full. We have other options. Columbus Zoo and Cincinnati Zoo, other zoos and aquariums are capable of housing some of our orphan calves to allow them to grow larger before they then make their way back to Florida and are returned back to the wild. [00:14:12]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:14:13] During our time filming with Dr. Clare at SeaWorld Rescue, I saw her in action, treating an adult female manatee named Biggles. The manatees can only stay out of the water safely for about 20 minutes at a time. So the team has to move quickly. [00:14:29]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:14:29] The next thing I'll be doing is cleaning a wound on her that she initially got from a boat strike. And will she always have a gash in her body or will it somehow close? Oh, yes. This will definitely close, and she'll probably have a pretty significant scar right here. So is that it? Did we just complete her checkup and her little procedure? Yes, and I do this every three days until that's completely healed up. just complete her checkup and her little... So it's a lot of intensive care, but they're worth it. [00:14:57]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:14:58] And so I'm curious, how is Big Ols doing these days? [00:15:02]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:15:02] Yes, so I have great news. She was actually returned back to the wild. She has healed up from her injuries and she's about four months ago was returned back to the wild. And we're very fortunate that actually some of the biologists from Florida Fish and Wildlife actually did spot her a couple of months ago. And from the time she was returned back to the wild to the time she was spotted, it looks like she was still a good weight and still behaving normally and in appropriate environment. I am so happy to say that she is back out in the wild and our hope for her is that she's living her best life out there and hopefully perpetuating her species by making more babies we hope. [00:15:46]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:15:47] to be in the job that you have, you know, serving, giving, creating a second chance for so many of these animals, you have to be doing it because you believe the future is bright. And I wonder, what is it about the manatees that you're so close with that gives you hope for the future of conservation? [00:16:05]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:16:06] Yeah, that's a really good question. I feel like also kind of a complex answer. These animals in general are gentle and don't have a great way to defend themselves and they're so vulnerable. I just had this feeling of responsibility as part of the human race to help these animals because of how vulnerable they are and also because a lot of what's happening to them in the wild. unfortunately is due to human impacts or human interactions. And so I had this need or desire to want to help them. It's been incredible seeing their recovery over the years. Their population has declined significantly and they were on the endangered species list, but this amazing network of biologists and rescue workers and veterinarians all came together. as part of this manatee rehab and rescue program to work together to save the species and they're no longer endangered and educating the public is absolutely essential. It has been incredible to see the increase in the population over the years. And I do think that has been a direct result of. not only educating the public, but also the rescue and rehab and the research that has been conducted to learn as much as we possibly can about these species. [00:17:30]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:17:32] Dr. Claire, thank you so much for giving me this education twice now, once in person with the manatees and now in this really great interview. I really appreciate talking to you and the work that you do. Thank you. [00:17:45]

Dr. Claire Erlacher-Reid: [00:17:45] Everything has come full circle because not only have I now been that person that's been bottle feeding the baby manatee, but also now getting to be on your show to hopefully inspire young conservationists and also hopefully future aquatic and zoological and wildlife veterinarians. [00:18:05]

Peter Gros: [00:18:10] Now it's time for conservation connection. We know that the more we can connect with wildlife, the more likely we are to protect it. Dr. Claire in the story of the manatees is a perfect example of that. We mentioned earlier how manatees were once famously mistaken for mermaids by sailors who, as Dr. Claire put it, were probably a bit out of sorts. [00:18:34]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:18:35] We recently met some real -life mermaids who perform at AZA Aquariums all across the country and in the process bring greater awareness to marine life. [00:18:45]

Mermaids: [00:18:46] we get to perform with all these animals. And part of what we wanna do and why we started this whole crazy adventure underwater is to help share the message that these animals really aren't scary. And especially for kids when they see sharks and they hear other messages that may not be as accurate that we're able to be ambassadors in the water. [00:19:09]

Mermaids: [00:19:10] Sometimes the kids just say, like, oh, you're swimming with them? And our responses are always, absolutely, we love our shark friends. We get to say that out on dry land, but then also under the water when a shark or ray comes near then, you know, we can give them an adoring look or blow them a bubble kiss. So they're seeing how comfortable we are with them in the water. [00:19:32]

Mermaids: [00:19:33] I've done this for eight years now, and every time I see the kids on the glass interacting with one of the girls, it's just, they're lighting up. We see them jump up and down, and we'll blow them a heart, and then we'll make a heart, and they make it back to us. And that is just, it has to be changing the way they look at the water is the hope behind it. Like, it has to impact them in some way to where they wanna take action. So That's what we tell them is if to be a mermaid, you have to be an ocean guardian too. [00:20:06]

Peter Gros: [00:20:07] We spoke with mermaids Caroline Kaufman, Hannah Burgess and Barry Riley. That conversation was recorded at the 2024 annual conference of the AZA, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in Calgary, Canada. Thank you for listening to this episode of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the podcast. And remember, if we protect wildlife and the environment today, we can ensure magical moments in the Wild Kingdom for future generations. [00:20:41]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:20:43] Join us next week when we talk to Orla O 'Brien about the plight of right whales in the Atlantic Ocean. [00:20:48]

Orla O'Brien: [00:20:49] I think that New Englanders view whales and right whales as an iconic type of species. But it's complicated. I think there's a complicated relationship because one of the iconic things about New England is also lobster. And lobster and other kinds of fixed fishing gear, gear that sits on the bottom and to be collected. actually can prove to be a huge danger for right whales and other types of large whale. [00:21:20]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:21:21] That's next week on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom The Podcast. [00:21:24]

Peter Gros: [00:21:33] Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, the podcast, is a production of Pineapple Street Studios and Mutual of Omaha. Our senior producer is Stephen Key. Producers are Elliot Adler and Jenny VanSoelen. [00:21:46]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:21:46] Associate producer is Lisa Cerda. Editor is Darby Maloney. Executive producers are Barry Finkel, Gabrielle Lewis, and Jen Wulf. Pineapple's head of sound and engineering is Raj Makhija. Senior audio engineers are Marina Pais, Davy Sumner, Javi Cruces, and Pedro Alvira. This episode was mixed by Davy Sumner. [00:22:10]

Peter Gros: [00:22:11] Production music courtesy of Epidemic Sound and Hearst Media Production Group. [00:22:14]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:22:15] Episode Clips, courtesy of Hearst Media Production Group. Marketing and promotion by Emily Poeschl. This podcast is hosted by me, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. [00:22:24]

Peter Gros: [00:22:26] Peter Gros. A special thanks to Katelyn Williams, Sophie Radmelamich, and Stephanie Diaz. [00:22:31]

Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant: [00:22:32] Today's episode is based on the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom series, created by Don Meyer. Our next episode will be out in a week. [00:22:39]

Peter Gros: [00:22:40] Make sure you listen on the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. [00:22:40]