By Barbara Liston
ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - More than a dozen Florida manatees, apparently seeking greater warmth during a recent cold snap, swam into a large drainage pipe from a marine inlet near Cape Canaveral and got stuck, leading to an unorthodox rescue effort by wildlife officers.
?It?s on the unusual side,? said Brandon Basino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who confirmed that at least 12 of the slow-moving marine mammals, also known as sea cows, had become trapped.
By 9 p.m., six manatees, including a mother and calf, had been pulled from the pipe, allowing rescuers to determine that as many as 19 might have entered the pipe, according to a report from Central Florida News 13 television.
The rescue operation in the town of Satellite Beach, along the Atlantic coast 15 miles south of Cape Canaveral, was expected to continue through the night.
Video footage from the scene posted online by News 13 and the Florida Today newspaper showed a rescuer comforting one manatee floating at the opening of the pipe. Two other manatees were seen lying on the ground and being petted after they were hoisted from the water with heavy machinery.
Additional video showed rescuers carrying a manatee in a sling to a nearby canal, where it was released to cheers from a crowd of onlookers.
The pipe was 100-150 feet in length and might have to be broken open in order for rescuers to reach all the manatees trapped inside, News 13 reported.
The wildlife agency?s marine biologist, Ann Spellman, was quoted in Florida Today saying her hunch led city workers to check the drain pipe and find the marine mammals in mid-afternoon.
Spellman told the paper that the manatees, which often leave the Indian River Lagoon during cold snaps for warmer waters in the canals, likely followed each other into the pipe.
Satellite Beach police and fire departments confirmed their personnel were taking part in the rescue operation, along with animal experts from SeaWorld. Basino said the wildlife agency had at least two employees on the scene who were too busy to provide details of the rescue efforts.
(Reporting by Barbara Liston; Editing by Steve Gorman and Paul Tait)
