The Florida waters gained one more healthy manatee Wednesday afternoon, and his name is Pocket.
Pocket first arrived at the Miami Seaquarium in May 2015, and he was named after the multiple deep scars left by boat propellers. Animal care supervisor Jessica Schiffhauer says he’s made tremendous improvement.
"He was about 240 pounds, so he's put on 400 pounds almost since he's been here," Schiffhauer says. "We needed him to gain weight and get healthy."
Now, Pocket is 2-4 years old, eight feet long and weighs around 800 pounds.
Pocket is just one of many manatees at the Seaquarium for rehabilitation. This year, the institution has seen the number of boat-injured manatees double. Among those injured manatees are a recently rescued pair of twins named Millennium and Falcon. They were rescued just off of Tavernier after their mother passed away from a boat strike on Oct. 2.
Pocket is now in his home waters off Stuart in an area called, coincidentally, “Manatee Pocket.”
