Manatee in Memphis

[Tigerhaze]

Can you believe this?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15417801/?GT1=8618

From the AP Wire:
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Manatee detours up Mississippi to Memphis
Experts aim to catch it, take it back to warmer waters

MEMPHIS - A misdirected manatee that swam 700 miles up the Mississippi River will be taken back to warmer waters by truck, a wildlife biologist said Wednesday.

The docile marine mammal, about 8 feet long, has been hanging around for several days near the downtown Memphis riverfront in the chilly waters of the Wolf River Harbor.

Biologists feared the manatee's health was failing because of the cool water so far north of its natural range along the southeastern coast.

To protect the manatee, which apparently swam up from the Gulf of Mexico, police restricted onlookers to bluffs overlooking the shallow waterway between downtown Memphis and Mud Island, a three-mile-long island with a pleasure boat marina and residential neighborhood.

"We're working on a rescue plan and hope to have the animal rescued within the next 48 hours," said Nicole Adiemy, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. "Then we'll put it on a truck and haul it to Florida."

The animal should be fine during the trip because manatees can remain out of water for an extended period of time, Adiemy said.

Adiemy said the manatee would be taken to the SeaWorld Adventure Park in Orlando, Fla., and marine mammal specialists from SeaWorld would be part of the rescue team. After being treated, the manatee would then be released off coastal Florida.

The plan was to catch the animal in a net on Thursday.

"We'll see if it's easier to do it from the land or from a boat," Adiemy said. "I suspect we'll do it from a boat."

Authorities said they had no idea what led the manatee to enter the Mississippi and head north.

Manatees are an endangered species found mostly from the coasts of Alabama to South Carolina, although they sometimes stray farther north in the summer. In August, a manatee was tracked as it swam up the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey before finally appearing in the Hudson River at Manhattan.

But this time of year, manatees normally would be moving into Florida rivers, not the Mississippi, said Pat Rose, executive director of the Save the Manatee Club in Maitland, Fla.

When manatees get too cold they stop eating and their digestive systems shut down.

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[Rafe Hollister]

I think a manatee would be considered an "invasive species", allowing unlimited harvest. We oughtta alert the Aim Low team so they can have the new TN manatee record on film for "Aimin' Low Vol. 3".