MYSTIC, Conn. (AP) – A wayward manatee rescued off the coast of Cape Cod last month will be on display this weekend at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.
The aquarium, which has been rehabilitating the manatee, dubbed “Washburn” by aquarium staff, says it received permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow public viewing of it Saturday and Sunday during regular hours.
The 800-pound pregnant female was picked up in September in Nantucket Sound off Falmouth, Massachusetts by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
The staff said the animal, which normally found off the southeastern U.S. and in the Gulf of Mexico, was rescued just before water temperatures dropped below
67 degrees _ too cold for it to survive.
The aquarium is preparing the manatee for a return to Florida, where it will be monitored through its pregnancy before eventually being returned to the ocean.
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