Manatee Rescued In Cold Massachusetts Dies Before Reaching Florida Rehab Center

Orlando, FL (AHN) - A wayward juvenile manatee found in too cold waters in Cape Cod, Mass., survived a 27-hour trip to Florida, but died just before reaching a rehabilitation center.

Dennis the manatee was named for a harbor near Dennis, Mass., where he was spotted swimming last week. Manatees are normally found off Georgia and Florida in warm waters and can't survive in cold water.

Wildlife officials arranged to have the manatee transported to Sea World in Florida to undergo rehabilitation before being released into the wild. But the mammal died just before getting there.

The water where Dennis was found was about 62 to 65 degrees and his body temperature was 73 degree, which was 24 degrees below normal, when he was pulled from the water. Rescuers managed to get the mammals body temperature up to 89 during the trip, but that was still 8 degree below normal.

Officials will conduct a necropsy to determine what happened.

It was the farthest north a manatee has ever been spotted. Dennis was about nine feet long and weighed 800 pounds.

Manatees are also known as sea cows, they are herbivores that usually live in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals and coastal areas. They migrate, but usually spend winter in Florida. During the summer they can rarely be found as far west as Texas and as far north as Virginia and more commonly in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

In Florida manatees can live to be 60-years-old and they are protected by state and federal law.