Walt Disney World Resort is fighting to save Florida’s dwindling manatee population.
Most recently, Disney’s animal care experts assisted Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) with the release of a 680-pound manatee at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City—one of six manatees rehabilitated at the Orlando theme park over the last year.
Plantaina is a young female manatee who was rescued as a baby near Fort Lauderdale. According to a news release, she was found abandoned at less than a week old. At just 28 pounds, she was smallest manatee ever rescued.
Plantaina was released back into the wild in February 2021 but was quickly found to be losing weight. She was rescued and rehabilitated once again, this time by Disney’s Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership at The Seas with Nemo & Friends at Epcot.
Disney feeds its manatees up to 150 heads of romaine lettuce each day, along with the occasional treat of apples, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Once they’ve returned to their natural weight, they are released back into the wild.
Sadly, stories like Plantaina’s are becoming all too common in Florida. A lack of food caused by pollution resulted in the deaths of 1,003 manatees—more than 10% of the state’s estimated population—last year.
“Manatees are an iconic species in Florida, and their conservation impacts all of us,” veterinarian Scott Terrell, DVM, and director of animal and science operations at Walt Disney World Resort, said in a statement. “Caring for these amazing creatures benefits all of the animals that live in their coastal habitats and the human communities around them.”
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If you see a dead, sick, or injured manatee, you are asked to contact the FWC’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 1-888-404-3922 or by dialing #FWC on a cellphone. For more information as well as opportunities to help, visit MyFWC.com/Manatee.
Good luck, Plantaina!
