Awesome Rescuers Save 1,000 Pound Manatee From Local Storm Drain (VIDEO)

Strange things are afoot (or afloat?) in Ortega, Florida. Deidra Gibson was doing some construction work when a passerby pointed out something stuck in a storm drain. When she went to see what it was she was more than surprised.  It was a female manatee and she is nine feet long and weighs over 1,000 pounds. Somehow the manatee managed to worm her way into a sewage pipe and was unable to turn around – though judging from the cuts on her nose she tried.

Gibson immediately notified the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who came to assist construction crews in this grueling rescue. After five hours of digging, the rescuers were able to extricate the unfortunate manatee from the pipes with the help of a construction crane. The manatee was brought to Sea World where the institute’s caretakers are checking her for injuries before she is released back into the wild.

This is not, the first time this has happened – last February 15 manatees were stuck in a drain pipe. So now we must add drain pipes to the already long list of dangers to the manatee population. Manatees were taken off of the endangered species list in 2014, even though the population still at risk. These marine mammals dwell on the coastlines and swim between the freshwater and saltwater, this means that manatee habitat is also prime real estate for humans and port cities. This also means that manatees are especially vulnerable to the effects humans have on their habitat. They are hit by ships, caught in fishing nets, and poached by humans. To add to those stresses, their main source of food – sea grass – as been his very hard by red algae blooms.

So while this gentle giant may have been saved, her life is not going to be easy once she gets back into the water. Manatees – like all other marine life – are endangered by the plastic waste we generate. An easy way to protect the manatees, and all the other life in the sea, is to cut down on your plastic waste.  Go to One Green Planet’s #CrushPlastic to learn more about how you can reduce your plastic consumption and waste. If you would like to learn more about how to help manatees, you can join the Save the Manatees club.