Coast Guard Helps Ship Pregnant Manatee Home to Florida From Massachusetts

A U.S. Coast Guard plane transported an 800-pound pregnant manatee back to the warmer waters of Florida from Nantucket Sound on Tuesday, October 18. The manatee, who has been named as Washburn, was successfully transferred to SeaWorld in Orlando from the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut on a Coastguard Ocean Sentry plane.

Washburn was first spotted off the coast of Massachusetts in August and was rescued on September 22, after officials became concerned for her health as water temperatures began to drop, according to a statement released by The Mystic Aquarium. Fox 8 reported that SeaWorld planned to release back into the wild. How the manatee, which normally range no further north than Georgia, came to be in Massachusetts is a mystery. Credit: YouTube/Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicole Groll / U.S. Coast Guard District 1