Adopt-A-Manatee®
Welcome
Friends of Manatee Lagoon is excited to announce we have created an extraordinary partnership with the Save the Manatee Club, the world’s leading manatee conservation organization.
You and your family now have a unique opportunity to adopt a real living manatee who frequents your area or other parts of Florida’s coastline.
By adopting a manatee, your donation goes towards efforts to help protect manatees, their calves, and their habitat. Unlike other animal adoption programs, the manatees in our adoption programs are real, living manatees with known histories.
View the manatees in the adoption program below.
ADOPT-A-MANATEE® AND RECEIVE:
- An adoption certificate with full-color photo and a biography of a real Florida manatee.
- A membership handbook.
- The Manatee Zone, our official Club newsletter, featuring updates on the adopted manatees.
- Paddle Tales, our eNewsletter (when an email address is provided).
- Free shipping for U.S. adoption orders.
Select a Manatee to Adopt
Rocket
Rocket is a male manatee, rescued as a tiny orphan in 2006. He was released with Annie at Blue Spring State Park, and they stayed together for over a year.
Whiskers
Whiskers is a male manatee who frequents Blue Spring State Park in the winter. He is the son of Dana, a former Blue Spring adoptee. She introduced him to Blue Spring in 1996, and he has been visiting the park ever since that time.
Ariel
Ariel was just two weeks old when she was rescued with her mom Amanda. She lives at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. She is a regular at the manatee education programs, lifting her head out of the water to “smile” at the visitors.
Betsy
Betsy was named after Betsy Dearth, who was a ranger at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. Betsy the manatee is very friendly and curious and is quick to investigate anything new. Ranger Dearth called her, “the inspector.”
Vector
Vector is a traveling man(atee) and has been known to frequent the Tampa Bay area and along Florida’s west coast. He has been tracked in Florida as far north as the Suwannee River and as far south as the Peace River.
Ginger
Ginger frequents the west coast of Florida, south of Tampa Bay. She is known to winter at the FPL plant in Tice, Florida, and she has been seen every summer since 1994 in the Marco Island area. Ginger has two known calves. One of them is named Ale!
Elsie
Elsie is easily identified because her tail is badly mutilated from an encounter with a boat propeller. She has been seen in the Tampa Bay area and has had at least two calves. Once, Elsie was documented traveling a distance of about 111 miles in about 23 days.
Flicker
Flicker is an adult female first documented in 1983 in Ft. Myers. She is named Flicker because she has a series of small propeller scars that reminded researchers of flickering flames. Flicker has been seen at Tampa Electric’s Big Bend power plant in Apollo Beach each winter.
Jemp
Jemp was rescued in 1995, after being exposed to red tide. He spent some time in rehabilitation and was released later that year. Jemp is known to frequent the Sarasota and Lemon Bay areas, but he also travels in a wide range along Florida’s west coast.
Chessie
Chessie was first sighted in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland in July of 1994. This rare manatee sighting created quite a stir. By October of that year, after it was determined that he was not going to head south on his own, Chessie was rescued and flown back to Florida so he wouldn’t die from cold stress. Chessie has been known to travel along the east coast of Florida and the southeastern coast of the U.S.
Illusion
Illusion was rescued in March 2010 after a terrible boat strike. After being released, she is often seen at the FPL Riviera Beach power plant in the winter and along the east coast of south Florida.
Millie
First identified in 1980, Millie is one of the largest manatees ever recorded. She is a traveler with a long sighting history along Florida’s southeast coast. Millie has had several calves and is also a grandmother!
