Looks like they lost him.


Posted: Monday, 19 October 2009 12:51PM

Wildlife Officials Say Manatee Hanging Around NJ Has Disappeared


by KYW's Karin Phillips
That "lost" manatee off the coast of North Jersey is really lost now. Wildlife officials says the sea cow has disappeared and may be headed south on its own.

We get a lot of manatees in this area each summer -- they travel up the east coast and usually get back to Florida before it gets cold.
But Chuck Underwood, with the US Fish and Wildlife Service office in Jacksonville, Fla., says that wildlife agencies all along the east coast have been alerted about the missing manatee, last seen in a tributary in northern New Jersey last Friday (see related story).

It's now hoped that the manatee is on its way south on its own, but Underwood says they don't want to take the chance that it hasn't gotten lost again.

Underwood says anyone who thinks they see the manatee should call their nearest wildlife agency:
"The big thing we would ask people to do is, while we do have plans in place to rescue the animal, we ask you only to report the animal's location. Don't try to do anything to corral the animal or track the animal in any way -- just report the sighting."
In South Jersey, the number to call would be that of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center: 609-266-0538.