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Video footage showed a rescuer comforting one manatee
floating at the opening of the pipe, which was cut open during
the hours-long rescue.
The footage, posted online by Central Florida News 13 and
Florida Today newspaper, also showed a manatee being carried in
a sling to a nearby canal, where it was released to cheers from
onlookers, and two other manatees being petted after being
hoisted out of the water by heavy machinery.
The rescue in Satellite Beach, a town on the Atlantic coast 15
miles (24 km) south of Cape Canaveral, started mid-afternoon on
Monday when Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
biologist, Ann Spellman, sounded the alarm, according to Florida
Today.
She told the paper that her hunch led city workers to check the
100-150 feet long drain pipe.
Manatees, also known as sea cows, often leave the Indian River
Lagoon during cold snaps for warmer waters in the canals and had
probably followed each other into the pipe, she said.
The rescue wrapped up at about 2 a.m. local time (0100 ET),
Satellite Beach Fire Department Captain Jay Dragon said, with
local police working alongside experts from SeaWorld.
(Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Louise
Ireland)
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