The Cincinnati Zoo recently brought back a 435-pound souvenir from its trip to Florida: an orphaned manatee named Truffleshuffle.
Truffleshuffle was rescued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in November 2018 after suffering "cold stress" (manatees are especially susceptible to cold water) and has been being treated at SeaWorld Orlando, where he gained 230 pounds. He will now be moved to the Cincinnati Zoo for rehab with the goal of returning him to Florida waters. He will be the 20th manatee to undergo rehab at the zoo.
Note: Please see Goonies truffle shuffle reference here:
As part of its participation in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership program — designed to "rescue and treat sick, injured and orphaned manatees and then release them back into the wild" — the zoo flew to Orlando on Oct. 15 to return its rehabbed manatees Miles and Matthew to their natural habitat. And came back with Truffleshuffle. The Cincinnati Zoo is one of only two zoos outside of Florida that participate in the MRP program.
Miles is an orphaned manatee who was rescued from Merritt Island, Florida in August 2016. He weighed only 43 pounds at the time, according to the zoo. Matthew, another orphan, was rescued from New Smyrna, Florida after Hurricane Matthew, weighing just 56 pounds. Both were treated at Sea World Orlando before moving to Cincinnati for rehab, where they gained enough weight (Matthew put on more than 700 pounds) to be released. Their buddy, Pippen, also an orphan, is still at the zoo's Manatee Springs waiting to gain more weight and will be a new companion for Truffleshuffle.
“When we brought Pippen, Miles and Matthew to Manatee Springs, our hope was that they would return to Florida together. But just as human children experience variable growth rates so to do young manatees,” said Cincinnati Zoo’s Curator of Invertebrates & Manatees, Winton Ray, in a release. “Pippen, who currently weighs about 500 pounds, is thriving — he’s just naturally a smaller animal and will need another year to reach to the minimum release weight of 600 pounds. He will be a great companion for Truffleshuffle, who currently weighs 435 pounds. We expect Pippen and Truffleshuffle to return to Florida next fall and to be released in early 2021.”
The zoo used airline DHL to help transport its manatees to and from Florida safely. “DHL has been working with the Cincinnati Zoo for many years and is always honored to play a key logistics role in the effort to return and release manatees into the wild,” said Cain Moodie, SVP of DHL network operations, in a release. “The DHL team reviewed every detail of the transport to ensure that Miles and Matthew received VIP treatment for their safe return all the way home, and we brought Truffleshuffle back the same way.”
According to the zoo, the Florida manatee population was estimated to be at 6,000 in 2016. The animal was downgraded from endangered to threatened in 2018, and is at risk from myriad outside influences include red tide, cold stress, boat strikes, disease, "crushing by flood gates or locks and entanglement in or ingestion of fishing gear."
