Thursday, October 29, 2009

Manatee

Wayward manatee Ilya is rescued near Linden oil refinery, flown back to Florida

A wayward manatee is headed back to Florida aboard a transport jet after being rescued from murky waters near a Linden oil refinery.

Ilya was loaded aboard a plane that took off from Atlantic City International Airport for an undisclosed military base this morning.

The sea cow was pulled from a creek at a Linden oil refinery Monday and recuperated at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

Federal wildlife authorities kept the rescue a secret, fearing a crush of media and well-wishers could stress the manatee.
Surprising because of the journey the animal had to make to reach here, although they have been known to wander this far north. It's late October, not late August. There's a lot of wild beauty & wildlife in Jersey's "brownfield" marshes & estuaries, but I don't recall a manatee ever becoming lost in them. Some of the creeks are quite safe & sheltering, there's no boat traffic & human access is difficult. Arthur Kill, the waterway between Jersey & Staten Island, is busy with tugs & barges.

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Comments:
Some of those tributaries are only a few inches deep at low tide. I have no idea how a Manatee could have maneuvered through them.

Water temps are probably below 68F, which is the minimum needed for manatees.
 
Some of the creeks & rivers are like small Bays of Fundy, the difference between low & high tide is so large. Rahway River goes from a ditch in a mud flat to a river deep enough for power boats.
 
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