Manatees nicknamed ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to be released from Miami Seaquarium after activist protest

This version of Romeo and Juliet could have a happy ending.

A pair of elderly manatees living in “deteriorating conditions” at a Florida aquarium since 1956 will be relocated following complaints from an animal rights group and a damning USDA report on conditions at the park.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said the manatees, named Romeo and Juliet after Shakespeare’s famous star-crossed lovers, will live out their remaining years in a sanctuary where their needs medical and social can be attended to more carefully, according to the Guardian.

Drone footage captured last month by advocacy group UrgentSeas and published in X provided a bird’s-eye view of Romeo, 67, living in depressing isolation at the Miami Seaquarium.

In the heartbreaking video, the mammal is shown swimming alone in the brackish water of the aquarium’s dilapidated “Pompano Pools,” which are closed to the public, where the animal rights group said it is confined “all the time.”

“Manatees are semi-social animals and suffer psychologically when they do not live in pairs or groups,” reads the title of the video, which has been viewed more than 3 million times.

The release of the footage was part of the group’s #FreeRomeo campaign that had been active on social media.

Former marine mammal trainer and UrgentSeas founder Phil Demers, who described Romeo’s solitary life as “Groundhog Day in Hell,” was overjoyed at the news of the mammals’ impending freedom.

Manatees have been at the aquarium since 1956. TikTok/@urgentseas

“It is a humbling experience to be part of such a powerful and effective movement. Every activist’s dream is to inspire change. “I am incredibly proud of the work of UrgentSeas,” he said.

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A scathing USDA inspection report in July cited multiple failures by the aquarium to provide its animals with adequate veterinary care and adequate living facilities.

Inspectors found that the aquarium did not meet requirements. TikTok/@urgentseas

In one example, after the Seaquarium terminated the employment of an associate veterinarian on March 23, a single veterinarian was left in charge of the 46 marine animals and “hundreds of birds, fish, sharks and rays housed at the facility,” he wrote. the USDA. in his report.

Inspectors also found that the aquarium did not meet requirements to keep “primarily social” animals like manatees housed at all times with “at least one compatible animal of the same species or a biologically related species.”

As a result of the report, the Miami-Dade Board of Commissioners set a deadline of December 15 for the Seaquarium to address its numerous violations. UrgentSeas had planned to hold a rally at the Seaquarium the next day.

Juliet the manatee, 61, (left) swims with a manatee named Phoenix at the Miami Seaquarium in 2014. AP

A spokesperson for Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava told The Guardian that the Commission had issued a notice of non-compliance to The Dolphin Company, the Mexico-based parent company of Miami Seaquarium, and was prepared to exercise its “ option to all remedies available within the law” in the event that the deadline to remedy the violations is not met.

FWS has not revealed Romeo and Juliet’s future home, but told The Guardian it is looking for facilities that are part of the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Association, a cohort of accredited aquariums, zoos and marine life centers where the animals They can enjoy a greatly improved life. quality of life.

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“FWS takes the health and well-being of manatees in managed care seriously.” [and is] working with an experienced team of manatee rescue and rehabilitation experts through the MRP to assist with the manatee transport effort from Miami Seaquarium,” the Service said in a statement to The Guardian.

The mammals are expected to be transported to their new home next week.

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Source: vtt.edu.vn

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