Wednesday March 25, 2009

Some time ago I was contacted—while in Ghana—by folks from the U.S. and Jamaica, who wanted me to rescue a land locked manatee in Jamaica. Others had tried but failed. I got together with a group of local men from the Alligator Hole River area, some government folks and two veterinarians from Sea World. These manatees were not like manatees I had previously worked with in Florida, Central America and Puerto Rico. They didn’t like people at all and had caves up under the vegetation along the riverbank, where they would hide in. They also knew how to avoid nets by either going around, under or through them. After taking stock of the situation I decided to set a trap for the one I was after using the same method I had used in Africa to catch a hippo. The manatee I was after had been tied by the tail in the middle of the river when it was very young. As it grew the rope broke loose form its’ anchor but remained tight around the female’s tail. It had embedded into the manatee’s flesh. When we got her on the beach, we removed the rope, weighed her (1200 pounds) and took some blood for DNA purpose.