Hunter finds 500-pound creature in small pond far from home, Florida rescuers say

A hunter stumbled across a large aquatic creature in an unexpected location in Florida.

Then rescuers stepped in.

The creature was a 2-year-old manatee weighing about 500 pounds, discovered in a small pond over a mile and a half from open water, ZooTampa at Lowry Park said Nov. 12 in a Facebook post.

The hunter found the manatee near the Big Bend Wildlife Management Area in Dixie County, not far from where Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm in September.

Rescuers suspected the manatee, now named Gully, wound up in the pond during hurricane flooding and was stranded there.

“Manatees that are displaced by storm surge waters often remain in unusual locations with limited food sources after the surge recedes,” ZooTampa said in the post.

The animal was reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and a team of rescuers then worked to navigate “remote terrain” to relocate the juvenile manatee.

His time in the pond left Gully underweight, rescuers learned during an initial assessment. They decided the best option was to transport him over 150 miles to ZooTampa for rehabilitation with its Manatee Rescue Team.

Adult manatees weigh an average of 1,000 pounds and grow 9 to 10 feet long, according to the FWC. They can be found in both saltwater and freshwater in Florida’s rivers, springs and coastal waterways.

This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 9:44 AM with the headline "Hunter finds 500-pound creature in small pond far from home, Florida rescuers say."