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But tonight the news is a little more encouraging. A stranded manatee calf was rescued near mile 6 on the northern highway yesterday. Jamal Galvez told us about it...

Jamal Galvez, Manatee Expert
"Once we went there we saw the calf there. We observe the area first to make sure that the mother or no adult Manatees are around because we wouldn't want to pull a calf away from its mother. Once we did that we realize that this calf was orphan, it was there alone. It was beaten up against the shore line. We caught the calf, transported it to our rehabilitation center. Initial inquiries into the investigation into its prognosis from the rehabilitation center is that the animal may have received blows on both side of the body from probably trashing against the sea wall rock, or some hard object that may have caused bruising to its rib area that makes it very laborious and difficult for the animal whenever it breathes. Yesterday morning we had a report about a dead Manatee as well not too far away, just a stone throw away and we went to look for the carcass. We found it, but we could have only observed it from a distance due to the location we were in. We weren't able to access it due to the property that it was on. We are not sure if it's the mother, we are thinking that it's the mother - that's just an assumption."

Jules Vasquez
"Will this Manatee ever be able to live in the wild?"

Jamal Galvez, Manatee Expert
"That's our number goal to get it back into the wild. It wouldn't intervene if we weren't able to help the animal. I assume in the next 2-3 years the calf which will no longer be a calf will be back in the wild once its age and have size to go back out there."

The Manatee treatment facility is in northern Belize.

Tomorrow they will go an examine the dead female to see if it was a nursing mother.