Flying eight manatees from Ohio to Florida
Just like four years ago, in the days before the Air Cargo Americas, which will be opening its doors in Miami tomorrow, 31 October 2023, several manatees were flown more than 1,500 km back to their temporary Florida homes, the successful culmination of over two years of rescue work by four zoological/marine institutions to save the sea cows.
In an intricate operation, Ashley, Calliope, Cardi-Tee, Lizzie, MaryKate, Piccolina, Soleil and Squirrel – weighing a total of almost 2.7 t (up from 202 kg when they were rescued) – were placed in custom-built containers to help them travel safely and then driven to Cincinnati airport at the DHL Express Global hub.
All of the manatees were loaded onto a specially scheduled DHL cargo plane to head to Florida, where they will complete the final stages of their rehabilitation journey before they return to the waters where they were initially rescued. (ah)