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Multi-agency effort successfully saves distressed manatee in Greenville’s Tar River

A manatee has been successfully rescued from a Tar River canal in Greenville, Pitt County. It is the first documented case of a manatee being rescued in North Carolina.

The 855-pound, 9-foot female manatee was first reported to the Outer Banks Marine Mammal Stranding Network in late October, near Kitty Hawk, and was exhibiting concerning behavior.

“Manatees are regularly seen in N.C. waters during warmer months, though the numbers of sightings historically have been much lower than what we’ve seen in recent years,” said University of North Carolina Wilmington assistant stranding coordinator Alison Loftis. “Manatees travel north to our waters from Florida during the warm months of the year. However, manatees cannot survive for extended periods in waters less than 68°F, so they must migrate back to Florida before our temperatures drop in the fall/winter. If they do not, they risk becoming cold stressed, an often-fatal condition similar to hypothermia in humans. In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in manatee sightings in North Carolina. Many factors likely contribute to this, but the main one is climate change. As global climate change continues to create warmer ocean temperatures, this is creating more suitable habitat areas for manatees along the Atlantic coast, causing them to venture farther away from Florida.”

Working in tandem with key North Carolina partners, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) quickly organized a multi-state, multi-agency marine mammal rescue team led by SeaWorld Orlando and included Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), N.C. Aquariums, UNC-Wilmington Marine Mammal Stranding Program, N.C. State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology and its College of Veterinary Medicine.

The team created a plan to monitor and rescue the animal and began assembling resources, including a manatee transport truck, multiple nets and a specialized manatee capture boat. However, they lost her location for 10 days as she moved farther inland. Sightings were later reported in the Pamlico River, near the Twin Lakes Campground in Chocowinity, on Nov. 10. She was identified as the same manatee as the one in Kitty Hawk through her scar pattern from a watercraft collision.

The manatee was then spotted on Nov. 15 in the Tar River, at the outfall of a Greenville Utilities Commission’s wastewater treatment plant. Law enforcement from Greenville Police Department and NCWRC assisted in monitoring the animal’s location while the rescue team traveled to the site.

“On the day of travel, sightings stopped, and I thought for sure we got skunked. It always seems to end that way,” said NCWRC science support specialist Karen Clark. “We were hopeful to get a second chance. I couldn’t have been more excited when it was seen first thing in the morning on the planned capture day.”

Veterinarians’ initial examinations concluded the manatee was underweight with some skin lesions due to cold stress, and a recent watercraft propeller injury. She also had a bleached muzzle due to cold temperatures. She was transported to SeaWorld Orlando for rehabilitation and hopes of a future return to the wild.

Manatees are difficult to capture. They are large and powerful and can easily weigh 1,000 pounds. They rarely strand on land and are usually captured in the water. Rescues require a very large team using a specialized capture boat and multiple nets. This manatee was rescued from a shallow ditch; therefore, rescuers only needed to use blocker nets, and a boat was not needed.

“This was an impressive team effort to help the female manatee that was rescued in Greenville, North Carolina,” said FWS’s Florida manatee recovery lead Terri Calleson, who helped organize the overall operation. “The success of this rescue is due to the quick response and dedication of staff, time and resources by so many organizations over the last few weeks to help monitor this manatee. I could not be prouder of this rescue team, including our N.C. partners who joined the effort to give this manatee a chance to get the care and treatment she needed at SeaWorld Orlando, and ultimately a future chance to return to the wild population following rehabilitation. Everyone involved has spoken very highly of the team assembled and we thank all the partners for helping with this operation. Additional thanks to Dr. Harms and his team for the multi-state veterinary assistance from N.C. State CVM/CMAST.”

According to FWS, this rescue is the first time a manatee has been successfully rescued in North Carolina, since they began keeping kept records in the 1970s. In 2021, a manatee was found by a beachgoer in Kill Devil Hills; however, it died before being rescued. FWS says there have been successful manatee rescues as far north as Massachusetts.

“We’ve monitored late-season manatees in the past but this year it seemed we had more calls and in more interesting situations than in previous years,” said Clark. “The teams moved so quickly and efficiently. Even though some of us had never worked together, everyone seemed to jump in exactly where they were needed.”

SeaWorld reports the manatee is doing well and eating on her own.

Partners that helped with this rescue from Florida are part of the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership, a cooperative of agencies, organizations and oceanaria focused on rescuing, rehabilitating and returning manatees to the wild. All organizations are authorized to conduct these activities by the USFWS.

Feeding manatees or giving them water may cause them to delay their migration south to warmer water. And manatees accustomed to being around people may lose their natural fear of boats and humans, which makes them more susceptible to harm.

“In order to monitor manatees in North Carolina, we greatly depend on receiving sighting reports from members of the public. Unfortunately, incidences of human interaction with manatees are quite common in our state. We often receive reports of manatees being fed or offered fresh water to drink. Most people have good intentions when doing these things, and just want to do something to help these animals,” said Loftis. “Fortunately, there are other ways folks can help these gentle giants. Instead of interacting with manatees, members of the community can help contribute to active research by reporting their manatee sightings using our online reporting tool and following proper manatee etiquette. Each report helps us learn more about how manatees are using N.C. waters and informs conservation measures for this species in the future.”

In North Carolina, the public is asked to report an injured manatee by calling the 24-hour marine rescue hotline at 910-515-7354.

“We rely on the public to help us with reporting healthy, sick, injured, or deceased manatees. It helps us to track individual animals that may need assistance,” said UNCW director of marine mammal stranding program Dr. Michael Tift.

To report sightings of healthy manatees, submit information, including photos and location of the animal to UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Program.

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