Some lucky manatees were rescued by a Florida man after he took a walk because the storm caused by Hurricane Irma was driving him "stir-crazy".
Storm surges caused by the hurricane saw water sucked out of bays and canals, while other areas normally above sea level were flooded.
The manatees were left high and dry when water drained, leaving them stranded near Sarasota, a small city on Florida's west coast, around 50 miles south of Tampa.
Michael Sechler wrote of how he had to call in for help after seeing the creatures as they were too heavy to move back out to deeper water.
He said: "Went out to the bay and saw two objects out where the water receded so we took off our shoes and walked out through the shells to find two beached manatees.
"One wasn’t moving, the other was breathing and had water in its eyes.
"My friends and I couldn’t move these massive animals ourselves, and we called every service we could think of, but no one answered. We gave them as much water as we could, hoping the rain and storm surge [would] come soon enough to save them."
Law enforcement officials and local residents turned up at the site, and between them, they carried the stranded animals back to shore.
Marcelo Clavijo, who joined in on the rescue mission, wrote of the experience on Facebook.
“It was a pretty cool experience,” he recounted. “We rolled them on the tarp and then dragged them a 100 [yards].”
When the animals were back in the water, they swam off, according to witnesses.
(Source: The Telegraph)
Storm surges caused by the hurricane saw water sucked out of bays and canals, while other areas normally above sea level were flooded.
The manatees were left high and dry when water drained, leaving them stranded near Sarasota, a small city on Florida's west coast, around 50 miles south of Tampa.
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| Beached: a stranded manatee was carried back to sea by rescuers CREDIT: MICHAEL SECHLER VIA AP |
Michael Sechler wrote of how he had to call in for help after seeing the creatures as they were too heavy to move back out to deeper water.
He said: "Went out to the bay and saw two objects out where the water receded so we took off our shoes and walked out through the shells to find two beached manatees.
"One wasn’t moving, the other was breathing and had water in its eyes.
"My friends and I couldn’t move these massive animals ourselves, and we called every service we could think of, but no one answered. We gave them as much water as we could, hoping the rain and storm surge [would] come soon enough to save them."
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| The manatee being rescued CREDIT: MARCELO CLAVIJO/FACEBOOK |
Law enforcement officials and local residents turned up at the site, and between them, they carried the stranded animals back to shore.
Marcelo Clavijo, who joined in on the rescue mission, wrote of the experience on Facebook.
“It was a pretty cool experience,” he recounted. “We rolled them on the tarp and then dragged them a 100 [yards].”
When the animals were back in the water, they swam off, according to witnesses.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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