News

Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park Adoption Update

By Kate Spratt, Park Services Specialist, HSWSP

After a warm, rainy, and humid summer, visitors, staff, and much of our wildlife are ready for the reprieve of cooler weather this fall. Our resident manatees have been happy all season long in the steady temperature of the beautiful Homosassa spring. In mid-November, the gates on the Long River Bridge will be opened to allow the wild manatees to enter. Prior to this, our team snorkels the spring, checking in-water fencing and evaluating for any potential hazards. This ensures the safety of our resident and rehabilitation manatees when they move into the paddock area, as well as the safety of the wild manatees that visit the warm Homosassa spring.

Four of the manatees in our care—Ariel, Betsy, Heinz, and Piper—are enjoying the main spring until being moved into the paddocks for the winter. During the summer, under the watchful eye of park rangers and a staff member from Jacksonville Zoo, Piper was moved into the main spring from the paddock. She demonstrated great strength and improvements to her buoyancy control and remains under close observation. Shantay is in the in-ground pool for daily medical treatments and will have added heat when the air temperatures dip. Betsy enjoyed the flooded shorelines that occurred after Hurricane Debby, where she was viewed munching on vegetation. Ariel and Heinz have a renewed interest in the park’s dive volunteers and are routinely seen “assisting” with cleaning the windows of the Underwater Observatory. Are you local to Citrus County or the surrounding area and interested in volunteering to help manatees? Apply online! We have manatee-related volunteer positions and many other volunteer opportunities available.

Interested in giving a unique gift to a friend or family member? Give them the gift of a manatee they can visit any time! You can choose one of our adoptees—Ariel or Betsy—at savethemanatee.org/adopt and come visit them in person at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park!