ORLANDO, Fla. – Walt Disney World is hoping to get results for marine life with a change in its manatee rehabilitation program.
Through its partnership with the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Program and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Disney is transitioning from long-term permanent manatee care to short-term critical, acute care.
Disney Animal Health Director, Geoff Pye, said the change is addressing a change for more manatee care.
“Critical care facilities that first take them in are getting overwhelmed and overloaded and so we’re providing that safety valve,” Pye said. In moving our long-term residents, we’ve been able to double the number of manatees that will be able to do throughout rehabilitation program.”
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Pye said they will be able to care for around six to eight manatees at a time.
He said one of the things he likes about this particular program is the ability to be able to track the manatees once they are released.
“The Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership and Fish and Wildlife Service will track them over a period of time,” Pye said. “What that does for us here is that we understand whether we have been successful or not. There’s a lot of joy when we release them after their six to nine months here, but when you hear a year later that they’re thriving out there, that’s what really makes us happy.”
Two of the manatees they are currently treating are “Cider” and “Mino.”
Cider is a female manatee who was rescued on Nov. 9, 2023 from Lake Woodruff in Volusia County. She was rescued along with a mother and calf. She is still under medical care for an abcess and weighs 770 pounds. Cider came to the Seas with Nemo & Friends at EPCOT from the Georgia Aquarium.
Mino was rescued on June 1, 2022 from the Caloosahatchee River in Lee County. He was an orphan calf and was rescued at just 55 pounds. Mino came from Sea World Florida and currently weighs 470 pounds. Disney said he needs to grow more and gain a little more weight before being released into the wild.
“We have a great team of really skilled veterinarians who help provide care for them, we have state of the art facilities and equipment to diagnose any medical issues and then treat them accordingly,” said Disney Clinical Veterinarian, Jen Flower.
Florida has been dealing with a manatee crisis for years.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently released its manatee mortality numbers for January 2025. According to the report, there were 72 manatee deaths in Florida in the month of January alone.
Flower said the change in their rehabilitation program will make a positive difference on the manatee population.
“Our recent shift to shorter term care is going to really help the manatees even more than before,” Flower said. “So, we’re able to get manatees in rehab, rehabilitate them, and release some relatively quickly so then we can get more manatees in. So, the number of animals that are going to come in and out is going to be dramatically increased, which is great because every animal that we send back into the wild is increasing the wild population. This change is really exciting for us and it’s really exciting for our guests as well.”
Guests can see Cider and Mino at The Seas with Nemo & Friends.
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