River Safari’s Kai and Junior are set to become the first two manatees in over a century to arrive in Guadeloupe. The pair are pioneer ani...
River
Safari’s Kai and Junior are set to become the first two manatees in over
a century to arrive in Guadeloupe. The pair are pioneer animals for the
world’s first manatee re-population programme.
Spearheaded
by the National Park of Guadeloupe, the historic conservation project
aims to reintroduce the Antillean manatees in Guadeloupe through a
breeding programme with a founding group of 15 manatees from various
zoological institutions. An important cultural symbol locally, the West
Indian manatee species has been extinct in the waters of Guadeloupe
since the beginning of the 20th century as a result of excessive hunting activities.
Kai
and Junior will be the first to arrive at the Grand Cul-de-sac Marin, a
protected bay which measures 15,000 hectares and would shield the
manatees from boating traffic by way of an enforced no-entry zone. The
future offspring from this founding group will be reintroduced to the
wild, eventually repopulating the Caribbean region.
Dr.
Cheng Wen-Haur, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Life Sciences
Officer, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said, “We have been very
successful in breeding manatees in our care for the past 20 years. We
are very happy that this success will now contribute to restocking part
of the species’ historic range in the Caribbean where it has been
extinct for the past century. Projects like this is one of many ways
that we are contributing to the survival of species in the wild.”
Kai
and Junior have been selected as they have reached sexual maturity, and
are best pals inside the aquarium due to age similarity. Kai was born
on 8 October 2009 and Junior was born on 2 February 2010. They are
almost inseparable, and can often be spotted swimming and feeding
together.
Kai and
Junior’s flight to Guadeloupe will occur within the next few weeks, and
is likely to take more than 30 hours with several pit stops. Although a
date has not been set, aquarists have been busy conducting operant
conditioning, and spending extra time with them before the final
farewell. Canvas conditioning is required to ensure that both manatees
are comfortable and familiar with the material on export day. Kai and
Junior will take turns to be guided to rest on their canvases, and a
hoist will then lift the canvas to place the manatees inside their open
top traveling crates, custom-fitted to their lengths.
These
crates are lined with thick sponge to ensure that Kai and Junior remain
comfortable throughout the flight, and also to absorb water which has
to be periodically sprayed on the manatees to keep their skin moist. In
true VIP style, Kai and Junior will have their personal flight
entourage, which includes veterinarians from the National Park of
Guadeloupe, and two aquarists from River Safari.
“The
ultimate conservation goal would be to reintroduce threatened animal
species to the wild and yet it is a very rare opportunity for this to
happen as there is a severe lack of suitable wild habitats, among other
challenges. We are very happy that the manatees will have such an
opportunity. We are confident that Kai and Junior will do well for the
good of their species”, said Keith So, Deputy Head Aquarist at River
Safari.
Manatees
are currently listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species. Their numbers have declined in the last century due to hunting
pressures, entrapment in commercial nets and collisions with propellers
and motorboats.
