Rescue workers work to save manatee from illegal crab trap
A manatee was rescued in Brevard County Friday after getting tangled in an illegal crab trap connected to a bright orange buoy. Marine biologists said the rope from the trap got tangled around the manatee’s right flipper. Rescuers from fish and wildlife and SeaWorld said they had untangled and nursed the same manatee back to health a couple years ago. They said her name is Bobber and she’s about 9 feet long. She was missing a flipper at that time from a previous entanglement. At first rescuers had trouble getting close enough to capture Bobber because of the many manatees around her, but after pulling the manatee’s calf close to the rescue boat, they were able to surround her with a net and pull mom and calf in. After taking the mother manatee to shore in Titusville, rescuers removed the rope and we relieved to discover they got to her before there was any major injury. Bobber was released within an hour of being pulled in.