Tracking Tico: Manatee rescued after frantic search
-
Loading... - Samuel Johnson
- 21 Oct 2022
- 78 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Experts had feared for Tico's safety after he embarked on an unusual journey taking him more than 4,000km (2,500 miles) from the Brazilian waters where he had been released into the wild.
An operation that spanned multiple countries and sent rescuers scampering on planes, boats and cars in a race against time to save Tico's life had a happy ending on Monday when he was finally rescued off Venezuela's La Blanquilla island.
It was veterinarians from Venezuela's environment ministry who finally managed to track the manatee through GPS and catch up with him.
It is not the first time Tico has been rescued. In October 2014, when he was a newborn, he was found stranded on Praia das Agulhas, in north-eastern Brazil, and taken in by Brazilian conservation NGO Aquasis.
His most recent adventure started on 6 July when, after seven years of rehabilitation, he was released into the wild in waters off Icapui, in north-eastern Brazil.
But, just a few days after Tico had entered deep waters, his previous caregivers began to fear for his survival.
Manatees feed on plants found in shallow waters, and with Tico swimming further and further into the ocean, it was decided he should be be rescued.
But Tico took off, and just kept going. Moving at a blistering pace, he blew through five Brazilian states, heading north, and leaving the Aquasis team literally chasing his tail, to which a transmitter had been attached.
In late August, the transmitter came close enough to the surface to signal that it was off the coast of Tobago - a part of the southern Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). Read More…
