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After a very long day and a beautiful sunset, Douglas was finally caught just north of Deering Estate around 530pm. He was taken to Miami Seaquarium for "winter fatten-up camp". Lets all hope he puts on the weight quickly so he can go out with the next group in Feb/Mar.

Douglas' blood values came back normal but the decision has been made to bring him back into captivity before the onset of the approaching winter months due to his low weight, girths and back fat. We hope to put a crew together for a capture early next week.

Douglas was captured on 11/18 in Deering Estate’s boat basin to assess his condition based on some abnormal behavior observed over the past week. Douglas lost his tag during the weekend of 11/6 and the tag showed signs of trauma from a boat impact. During an observation on 11/11, Douglas was noted to have increased respirations (2-3 breaths during 3 minute windows) compared to his normal activity rate of 1 breath every 3-4 minutes or 2 sequential breaths every 7-9 minutes while resting. On 11/16, Douglas was again noted over a three hour period to still have an increased respiration rate (example: 15 breaths in 23 minutes; 20 breaths in 20 minutes). Dr. Maya was contacted and it was decided to catch Douglas to assess his condition. SeaWorld agreed to bring their capture boat down and a “now rather than later” approach was taken to get our hands on Douglas. The thought before the capture was that the increased respiration rate might be because Douglas had been hit by a boat and was responding to injuries. Another possible explanation was that he might be having difficulty thermoregulating due to recent temperature changes (decrease from 25 to 21 degrees Celcius during the past week). While feeding over grass flats with six other animals on 11/17, Douglas was observed taking 2-3 breaths during 3 minute windows, while the other animals were only taking 1 breath every 3-4 minutes. His resting breathing rate was 1 breath every 3 minutes compared to other animals (except mother/calf pairs) 1-2 breaths every 7-8 minutes. It should be noted that most of his activity levels appeared normal – feeding, socializing and traveling as normal. He had been observed floating at the surface on multiple occasions with only his shoulder area exposed at the surface of the water and not where the middle of the back is usually exposed (just something else that was “odd”).

Even though there were seven other animals in the boat basin, we only caught Douglas and on the first set too. Blood, morphometrics, fecal, stomach sample, ultrasound and weight were obtained. Dr. Maya from Miami Seaquarium gave Douglas an overall condition of fair, with a body score of 2+. He had lost 75 lbs since his last assessment (9.3%). A slight appearance of a peanut shape head was noted with ribs almost detectable. No apparent wound or swelling was observed and he appeared symmetrical. Blood values are pending.

Received a call this morning from our friends at Deering Estate. They found Douglas' tag and tether just south of the boat basin near Peoples dock. It sounds like the tether broke at the weak link as designed and probably floated in with the tide last night. The sonic search begins to get him retagged!

Douglas has been hanging around the Deering Estate / Old Cutler Ridge area over the past month. He has been seen with other animals on multiple occasions feeding east of Deering Estate or just south of the Cutler Power Plant. He has even been observed milling/traveling in a small creek just north of Deering Estate. Douglas looked good during an underwater observation on 10/20. He did not have a concaved inward stomach or peanut shaped head. His stomach appeared to have a slight outward bulge to it and he was observed to have flatulence. Douglas has been observed multiple times with our old friend Brooks. Brooks by the way looks wonderful underwater and he did spend a little time floating next to me during my observation time of Douglas.

He appears to have changed up his resting pattern. He has been noted to "cruise" into the boat basin at DeFlorida/Thumbs.dbering Estate any time of the day. On 9/1, Douglas was observed at Deering Estate with Brooks in the early afternoon. After hurricane Frances' wind and rain passed through the Miami area, Douglas was observed at the C-100 canal/flood structure. He was observed alone but appeared to be enjoying the free current ride of the open flood structure. Later that same day, he was reported resting in the boat basin with other manatees.

Douglas was captured on 8/31 for his six month health assessment at Deering Estates of Cutler. It took three net sets before we caught him and he showed excellent boat avoidance. He also did not hit the net this time but slowly worked from side to side. This behavior is typically what we have documented during other animal’s six month health assessments. With each capture or capture attempt, they seem to learn more ways to avoid the net and capture boat. The twelve month assessment should be interesting.

Blood, morphometrics, fecal, stomach sample, skin, ultrasound and weight were obtained. Dr. Maya from Miami Seaquarium gave Douglas an overall condition of good. He lost 35 lbs since his last assessment (4.2%) and currently appears to have similar body mass to other manatees his size in the south Florida area. Final blood values are pending.

Monthly underwater visual observations have suggested that between the month of July and August, Douglas started to gain stomach mass. He has also been spending more time in the mornings out on the grass flats. Brooks actually appeared to have more mass than other males his size observed in the Miami area over the past few months.

Thank you to the crew of SeaWorld and Miami Seaquarium for hanging in there so we could get this assessment accomplished. Also, big thanks to Deering Estate and their staff for helping us on site during the capture and all those days we are out there getting our visuals on Douglas .

FYI for those that still like to hear about Brooks, he was with Douglas Saturday 8/28 at Deering Estate.

Douglas continues to use the Deering Estate boat basin primarily during the day to rest or socialize with other manatees. He has been noted to move out of the basin around 6pm onto the grass flats and feed...sometimes leader, sometimes follower. ARGOS has indicated he is usually north or south of the basin during the evening/night in locations known to have large beds of Thallasia or Halodule seagrass. Deering Estate boat basin offers several freshwater drinking locations for the animals. Storm water drainage is apparent along several locations on the seawall but more importantly there is a limestone upwelling located on the southwest side of the seawall where animals are routinely observed mouthing over the bottom boil. Douglas has been observed over this location mouthing the bottom and then falling asleep right over it. It is one of the cooler spots in the basin too.

We were finally able to conduct Douglas' 2-3 month health assessment this past Tuesday 6/8. He was at Deering Estate resting with two other animals in the boat basin. We preset the net towards the end of the basin and encouraged him to leave the basin by putting a swimmer in the water. Lucky for us, we were able to catch him on the first set because he hit the net and got himself entangled in the net. Typical first capture behavior for a rehab animal. We did not catch either of the other two animals and by the way, Brooks was one of the other animals.

Blood, morphometrics, fecal, stomach sample, skin, ultrasound and weight were obtained. Dr. Maya from Miami Seaquarium gave Douglas an overall condition of excellent, with a body score of 3+. He loss 140 lbs since his last assessment (14%) but still has more body mass on him compared to other manatees his size in the South Florida area. Final blood values are pending.

Ultrasound readings showed decreases at his peduncle and anus measurements. His umbilicus readings indicated a larger depth in back fat than "wild" subjects previously measured. Monthly underwater visual observations have indicated that Brooks has been increasing in body mass since early December. Manatees in the SE Florida area appear leaner in comparison to manatees observed in Blue Springs, Tampa Bay and Crystal River. Brooks actually appeared to have more mass than other males his size observed in the Miami area over the past few months.

Thank you to the crew of SeaWorld and Miami Seaquarium for hanging in there so we could get this assessment accomplished. Also, big thanks to Deering Estate and their staff for helping us on site during the capture and all those days we are out there getting our visuals on Douglas.

4/20/04:

Douglas has remained between Blackpoint and Deering Estate since his release on 3/3/04. He made a very quick trip to Deering Estate the day after his release focusing all his attention on a large female. He was observed at Deering Estate on 3/8 with seven other manatees socializing and resting in the basin and cavorting with five animals the following day. Public visuals reported by Deering Estate staff noted that Douglas was seen over the next few days alone or with other manatees in their boat basin primarily bottom resting. On 3/18, he was observed traveling into Deering Estate's basin with four manatees and all immediately began to bottom rest. Douglas was easily disturbed from his rest when a group of students began to work near the seawall and he continued to mill around the basin until the visual observation was terminated. ARGOS locations indicated that he made a quick trip to Blackpoint on 3/20 and then back to Deering Estate the next day. Douglas was again seen with four animals on 3/24 in Deering Estate's basin and was tracked traveling outside the basin into choppy waters with these animals. The next two weeks of visuals found Douglas alone but two times he was seen outside the basin in an area full of "preferred" manatee seagrasses. It appeared he was feeding on Halodule seagrass on 4/16 from the way he was lifting his head out of the water to get air. Douglas made another quick trip to Blackpoint on 4/17 and was observed back at Deering Estate two days later bottom resting with one other animal. An underwater visual was attempted to assess Douglas' body condition and he avoided the snorkeler very well, thus only a quick look was obtained of his belly. He did not have a concaved in stomach or rolls nor did he have any obvious signs of extensive weight loss but he has lost some body mass as expected. The areas outside Deering Estate's basin were Douglas has been seen were investigated and these areas had newly grazed beds of Halodule seagrass. Hopefully he has put his mark in the beds.