Baby Manatee's Life Saved By Clearwater Rescuers In Belize
CLEARWATER, FL — Cradling the 2- to 3-week-old manatee calf in his arms as if it were a human baby, associate marine research biologist Jamal Galves fed the little fellow a baby bottle of Pedialyte to replenish its depleted electrolytes.
Galves then gently wrapped the frightened manatee in a wet towel to keep him hydrated for the long ride back to the wildlife research institute.
The research institute is in the tiny Central American country of Belize, but the name and logo on the towel covering the baby manatee is a testament to the international efforts of Tampa Bay conservationists to protect marine life: “Clearwater Rescue.”
Galves heads the manatee rescue team for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute in Belize.
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On Sept. 30, the team was summoned by residents who discovered the baby manatee alone and stranded in the Belize River.
“We headed over to the river area where the community observed the little one splashing around,” Galves said. “After taking some time to look around the area to ensure no other manatee was near that could possibly be the mother, we started our attempt to capture the calf.”
The institute specializes in rescuing Antillean manatees, a smaller subspecies of the West Indian manatee common in waters around Florida.
The Caribbean Sea around Belize has the highest number of Antillean manatees in the world. Unfortunately, those number are dwindling due to boating accidents and the destruction of the manatees’ habitat. Now the survival of this species of manatee is in peril.
Among the conservationists fighting to protect the Antillean manatee is Dr. James “Buddy” Powell, considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on manatees.
The native Floridian said he became fascinated with manatees while working with famed marine researcher and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau on the first documentary about manatees. Powell went on to get his undergraduate degree in science at the University of Florida and eventually his doctorate in marine biology from the University of Cambridge in England.
In the 1970s, Powell worked for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as a biologist and manatee specialist. Then, in 1986, he was recruited by the Wildlife Conservation Society to study and establish protected areas for manatees and forest elephants in West Africa.
In the 1990s, his work with the society took him back to the Americas where he was assigned to manage the WCS Glover’s Reef Marine Research Station in Belize.
Powell has now spent 40 years working to protect these gentle marine giants. He’s written two books on the subject, his work has been featured in National Geographic documentaries, and he founded the renowned research organization Sea to Shore Alliance to protect the Antillean manatee, whales and sea turtles that inhabit the Caribbean.
His efforts caught the attention of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which formed a partnership with Powell in 2018, creating the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute in Belize.
“This merger will broaden our conservation and research scope, which will result in advancements toward the protection of species and habitats,” said Powell, who is executive director of the CMA Research Institute. “Our team is pleased to embark on this new venture with CMA and begin realizing research goals and conservation successes through the newly developed research Institute.”
The man heading the rescue of the baby manatee was an 11-year-old boy when he first met Powell. Galves said he was just hanging out at the docks when he spotted Powell preparing to launch a boat and head out to conduct manatee health assessments. He asked if he could come along. Galves said Powell’s answer led to his life’s purpose.
Galves spent his youth volunteering with Powell and was officially hired as a field assistant in 2008.
Today, he serves as the institute’s manatee conservation program coordinator and is something of a real-life superhero to the children of Belize.
He’s negotiated with the government to establish manatee sanctuaries and speed zones around Belize City; oversees the tagging, tracking and monitoring of manatees in the wild; coordinates the Belize Marine Mammal Stranding Network; and handles fundraising and public education efforts for the institute.
For his work, Galves was named a 2018 National Geographic Photo Ark EDGE Fellow, an Oceana Ocean Hero, a World Wildlife Fund Planet Hero and is the youngest Belize citizen to be awarded the Meritorious Service Award from the Governor-General of Belize.
But as far as Galves is concerned, all those honors would be meaningless if he couldn’t save this abandoned 41-pound manatee calf that had placed its life in Galves’ hands.
“I quickly grabbed the calf and raced it over to the rescue truck where it was placed and prepared for transport to the rehab center,” Galves recalled.
The baby manatee was dehydrated and slightly underweight. Nestling the calf in his arms, Galves offered him a bottle filled with Pedialyte to restore the baby’s electrolytes. He then lay on his side next to the baby manatee, whispering words of comfort to ease the animal’s fright.
Now splashing around in its own pool at the rehabilitation center, the baby manatee is on the way to making a full recovery that will eventually lead to its release back in the ocean, said Galves.
In the meantime, Galves will share the baby manatee’s story of survival with the children of Belize during his frequent visits to the country’s schools.
He believes protecting and rescuing manatees is only part of his mission. The other part is educating and fostering a respect for these gentle marine mammals in the next generation, just as Powell did in him when he was a boy.
Galves said his guiding doctrine comes from a 1994 quote by former prime minister of Belize, Manuel Esquivel:
“We must allow our children the right to experience the beauty of Belize that we have had the fortune to share. We must, in addition teach the next generation the idea of conservation for, if we fail, we had better teach them survival.”