Five orphaned manatees were released back into the wild Wednesday at Blue Spring State Park in Florida.
The crew of beloved sea cows, Squirrel, Lizzie, MaryKate, Clank, and TinkTink, were all rescued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership organizations (MRP) between 2020 and 2021.
They were all just little nuggets then; Lizzie and Squirrel weighed less than 70 pounds when they were rescued. Over the last few years, they have been rehabilitated with the help of organizations including SeaWorld Orlando, Miami Seaquarium, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and Save the Manatee Club.
When they made it back to the wild on Wednesday, they all weighed between 700 and 1,000 pounds.
The release was complex and took all day to complete, according to a release from the MRP. But the manatees, now fitted with GPS tracking devices, are back home in Florida waters.
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