Photo: Steven Trainoff Ph.D. / Moment / Getty Images
Following Hurricane Idalia’s storm surge the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission received multiple calls about displaced manatees swimming into places from which they cannot escape.
The FWC says three manatees, a mother and two calves, made their way into Clam Bayou in St. Petersburg at the height of the storm and may have been trapped after the water receded.
A fisherman says he saw the manatees in the canal after the storm, but an all-out search of the retention pond turned up nothing.
So now, the FWC has called off the search for three manatees, hoping they made their way back to the open water.
Meanwhile, another group of manatees stuck in the Whiskey Creek canal have been relocated.
FWC confirmed that all five manatees were rescued and relocated to Horton Park in Cape Coral.
FWC asks that if anyone spots the other three manatees in the pond, give them a call so they can be returned to the wild.