Family sedans, minivans, SUVs and cars from all across America and Canada – hundreds of thousands of visitors come to Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center each year in vehicles of all kinds.
A handful of visitors, meanwhile, come to the center in moving vans: manatees.
On Jan. 28 and 29 they arrived again, the latest in what’s become an annual ritual that sees rehabilitated manatees released into the wild to the delight and awe of packed crowds.
Manatees of West Central Florida, meet your newest companions: Snowpea, Whit, Sota, Turtlepie, Joy and Myakklamore.
You can watch video of the Jan. 29 manatee releases on TECO Energy’s YouTube channel.
In most cases, the manatees released at the center were treated for cold stress. The South Florida Museum rehabilitated Myakklamore; the others received care at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. And after transport from their temporary homes in moving vans, and after a dozen volunteers carried each huge mammal on a tarp gently into the water, all six are swimming free with their own kind – and they can always return to the Manatee Viewing Center for lifesaving protection from cold water thanks to the clean, warm water discharge canal at Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station.
Stan Kroh, manager of Land and Stewardship Programs with Tampa Electric’s Environmental, Health & Safety team, said that even though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may remove manatees from the endangered species list, the need to protect them continues – and that Tampa Electric is proud to be able to provide them with a safe place, one that’s warm in the winter, at the Manatee Viewing Center.
“A lot of advocates have worked very hard over the years to help restore the manatee population, and the results are heartening – especially here at the center, where you can see so many of them up close,” Kroh said. “We’re excited to keep doing what we do to educate people about manatees at an environmental education facility that’s free to the public and one that just keeps getting better each year.”
Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center offers free parking and admission and is open to the public annually through April 15. We suggest you check Tampa Bay water temperature and use the center’s east or and west webcams to get an idea whether you’ll be able to see manatees up close in the canal before you visit.
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