Manatee Release

Coco was lucky enough to have a really special flight assignment yesterday. He was given orders to transport marine biologists and journalists and a few others to a Natural Reserve here in the Amazon. The reason he was transporting the people was so that they could release some rehabilitated manatees into a lake on the reserve. The day before, the Air Force transported the manatees in huge boxes to the reserve. Coco said the reserve was so beautiful and peaceful. The lake there was quite large and supposedly filled with freshwater dolphins. The following pictures were taken by Coco and his co-pilot.

Before the release of the manatees, there was a ceremony with all the scientists and some of the locals.

When the manatees were actually released they were first put into a seperate pool to acclimate to the lake´s water. Once they were well adjusted they would be released into the lake where they could live happily ever after among the dolphins and fish. The manatees are in danger here in this area because they have been a target of hunters here for several years. Now there is a big campaign led by a few of the local universities and others to change that. And this particular manatee release occured on Earth Day! What a coincidence!

 Later a rainstorm rolled in. Luckily it didn´t last too long and Coco was home in time for lunch.