Crusoe is one Florida resident who had no intention of going to the Bahamas and would probably much rather be vegging out by a Riviera Beach power plant than swimming in the crystal aqua waters of Rum Cay.
The wayward manatee is stuck there now, far from home and the fresh water and plentiful vegetation she needs. But thanks to her Gainesville-area connections, she is being cared for and may be brought back home.
Dan and Donna Vernon of Archer were at their Rum Cay vacation home when some excited islanders called them on Monday to come look at the rare sight of a manatee in the Bahamas.
“Our original thought was that this cannot be, this is impossible. We thought it must be a beached whale. We went down and sure enough it was a manatee,” said Don Vernon, a retired veterinarian. “My first thought was, boy it looks bad. It was right on the top with its back out of the water, barely moving, and it really did not look very healthy.”
The Vernons began making calls. They got in touch with the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island, which has an aquarium. They got in touch with Florida’s Save the Manatee Club, the Bahamian government and the Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
And eventually they came in contact with James Reid, who happens to be in Gainesville. Reid is a biologist and manatee expert with the U.S. Geological Survey who works out of a Gainesville office.
Reid compared photographs of Crusoe – named by Rum Cay residents after the literary castaway Robinson Crusoe – with those in a database of Florida manatees. From scars on her back, Reid was able to determine Crusoe is really RB-50. The name comes from one of her frequent haunts – a Florida Power & Light plant on the Intercoastal Waterway at Riviera Beach in Palm Beach County.
“It’s a female that I had photographed many winters down at Riviera Beach. She’s an adult, could be in the 10-foot range. She has been photographed at Riviera Beach as far back as 1980, so that puts her at 29 or 30-plus years given she was an adult at that time,” Reid said.
“Rum Cay is quite far afield,” Reid said. “It’s close to San Salvador. It is the opposite side of the Bahamas, which makes this interesting. She is certainly underweight, but appears to be alert. We expect her poor nutritional state is a result of a prolonged oceanic drift.”
Florida manatees in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico stay close to shore. In winter they move into warmer water in springs or near power plants, which discharge warm water.
It’s uncommon, but not unheard of, for them to end up in the Caribbean basin. Reid said a few have been found in the Bahamas – one has been living there for 10 years. One was fairly recently found in Cuba.
In many cases they have been identified as manatees from Florida, Reid said. Some are left where they are, while some are captured and returned, depending on their location and condition.
“The big concern for the Bahamas is the absence of fresh water in many of the areas. If you look at distribution of manatees worldwide, they seek out and live in close proximity to fresh water,” Reid said. “They drink fresh water. Although they may be able to metabolize some water from food, manatees essentially don’t live anywhere where there is absolutely no fresh water.”
Reid said the manatees are not intentionally heading to the Caribbean.
Young “naive” manatees released from captivity have been documented to stray into open water, perhaps because they have not had moms to teach them to stay close to shore. Adults may get caught in currents, possibly from hurricanes, and end up in the Caribbean.
Vernon said people on Rum Cay have been providing fresh water to Crusoe at a dock. He said she spends most of the day munching on seagrass in the shallows, then returns to a small marina in the evening.
Reid said Crusoe was last seen in Florida in winter 2006, adding she had a calf at that time. Efforts are under way to try to capture Crusoe and return her to Florida, but neither Vernon nor Reid are certain that will happen.
“We’re hearing there is a very good chance they are going to rescue this animal. They told us there is not enough seagrass here to sustain her. This animal has to eat over 100 pounds of seagrass a day, and there is just not enough of it growing,” Vernon said. “I can imagine it’s a very costly thing to rescue the manatee. I imagine it would be many thousands of dollars.”
Florida has intensive efforts to protect manatees, including the creation of reserves, no-wake zones in certain waterways and other measures.
Reid said Florida manatee numbers have increased over the years but he added they still face continued pressure from boat strikes, red tide, changes in habitat and other dangers.
“Manatees have really adapted a lot in their behavior to be in close proximity to people and have even used our canals and our dredged waterways and all of the exotic plants to their benefit,” Reid said. “They are working real hard to live with us. People need to work a little harder to live with them.”
Sources:
The Gainsville Sun
My Fox Tampa
