New female joins five others at Manatee Coast
An orphaned manatee is joining her fellow marine mammals at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
Agua, an 18-month-old female, arrived in Columbus on Friday from Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. Agua and her mother were brought to the Florida zoo on June 24 after the mother manatee was struck by a boat near Clearwater and seriously injured. She died in August.
Agua has been moved to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for continued rehabilitation before her eventual release to Florida waters, said zoo spokeswoman Patty Peters.
The young manatee joins five others — Stubby, Jedi, Junebug and twins Millennium and Falcon — at the zoo’s 300,000-gallon Manatee Coast pool.
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium participates in the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership as a second-stage rehabilitation facility, providing a temporary home for manatees, also known as sea cows, until they are ready for release back to the wild.
“Agua marks the 26th manatee we have helped rehabilitate through this collaborative program, and we are looking forward to monitoring her progress as she grows stronger,” Becky Ellsworth, curator of the Shores region at the Columbus Zoo, said in a news release.
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and the Cincinnati Zoo are the only two facilities outside Florida that care for manatees as part of the rescue and rehabilitation program.