Pregnant Manatee Rescued off Cape Cod Leaves for Florida

A manatee that was rescued off the coast of Cape Cod and later found to be pregnant has left Connecticut's Mystic Aquarium and got on a flight to move to SeaWorld Orlando in Florida. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Charles Underwood told the Cape Cod Times the manatee will will undergo further rehabilitation before being released into the wild. 

The 800-pound pregnant female, dubbed "Washburn," was picked up in September in Nantucket Sound off Falmouth, Massachusetts, by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. 

The group said the animal was well out of its range and was rescued just before water temperatures dropped below 67 degrees -- too cold for it to survive. 

Underwood said the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership will decide where the animal will be released in Florida.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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