'Blood on their hands.' Advocates call for manatee's release from Mote Marine in Sarasota

The death of Hugh the manatee at the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota has led animal rescue advocates to question whether Florida's famous captive sea cows are being forgotten and underserved.

Hugh is the second manatee to die in Southwest Florida in recent years following a lifetime of captivity.

His younger, but much larger, half-brother Buffett has lived alone since a sexual encounter in April led to Hugh's death from a rip in his colon.

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"Mote has blood on their hands," said Denise Anderson, director of the nonprofit Friends of Manatees, which was created to advocate for an end to the "swim with manatees" tourist attractions in Crystal River. "They are trying to put a spin on this because they know that they ... did not do anything to prevent it."

Details behind Hugh's death came to light at an inconvenient time for Mote. The nonprofit is moving forward with a major expansion in Sarasota County, aiming to secure $130 million through a combination of philanthropy, corporate and organizational partnerships, and support from the public and local government.

More than $100 million has been raised so far, according to the project website. The nonprofit is expected to keep additional manatees at the new facility, likely rescued manatees that would be released after rehabilitation. Little is publicly known about those plans, and for the future of their remaining permanent resident manatee, Buffett.

Anderson criticized the organization for not separating the manatees during the incident and for initial public messaging that implied Hugh died of natural causes until details of his death were published by the USDA and covered by the Herald-Tribune.

"They are spewing around this nonsense that Hugh had consensual sex and allows himself to have voluntary research," she said. "Mote must think that we are all idiots. It's a disrespect to Hugh's memory."

Mote Marine did not respond to requests for comment for this story. A USDA inspection report following Hugh's death stated, "The facility failed to handle Hugh expeditiously and as carefully as possible to prevent trauma and physical harm, resulting in the death of the animal."

A Mote spokesman previously said the aquarium is committed to the USDA's gold standards for animal care. Mote also posted a response on its Facebook page defending its care of Hugh.

"Hugh and Buffett engaged in natural, yet increased, mating behavior observed and documented in manatees both in managed care and in the wild," Mote Marine stated in the post. "This was the first time such heightened mating behavior was witnessed between the two manatees."

Captive in Florida for decades

Unlike most rescued manatees, Hugh and Buffett are part of a family captive in Florida for decades.

Buffett is the son of Romeo and Juliet, who in 1956 were among the first manatees the Miami Seaquarium "rescued" and kept captive, according to its website. They are the first manatees to conceive offspring in human care, a calf called Lorelei — Hugh's mother.

Romeo and Juliet are not subject to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 nor the Endangered Species Act of 1973 because they were taken from the wild before the laws went into effect.

Neither are their offspring because an amendment approved in 1996 gave the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service the ability to issue permits that allow certain marine mammals kept in captivity for conservation, educational, and research purposes. The law was retroactively applied to the offspring of manatees like Romeo and Juliet, giving Mote Marine the opportunity to display Hugh and Buffett since 1996.

Marine mammals in Florida captivity

The Miami Seaquarium is one of five Manatee Critical Care Facilities in Florida, which also include SeaWorld Orlando, ZooTampa at Lowry Park, Jacksonville Zoo, and the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. At times, rescued manatees are transferred to smaller partner facilities for further rehabilitation and display before release.

Buffett, Romeo, and Juliet are not among those manatees. They are among a select group of marine mammals held captive for so long that there are questions if they could survive in the wild.

In March, stakeholders announced a massive effort to rescue another of those marine mammals from the Miami Seaquarium, a 57-year-old orca called Lolita. She will be taken back to the Washington coast to a custom-built seaside sanctuary in the Salish Sea, in an effort to give her an opportunity to live in waters where she once lived free under a protected setting.

Lolita was one of seven young orcas from her pod during the Penn Cove captures in 1970 near Puget Sound. She is the last of them alive but has spent the past 50 years living in captivity in a shallow pool under the sear of the Miami sun.

Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay is largely responsible for funding her rescue, which has the support of the aquarium's new ownership, The Dolphin Co., and the Friends of Toki nonprofit.

"I can feel her saying I'm ready to go," Irsay said Tuesday on a social media video post. "It takes human aid to do that, I'm here to do that, and I can and will find a way to get her home. People in a position of power and wealth have to learn that they have an obligation to do more ... This is a great opportunity to inspire the world."

Lorelei's footsteps

Anderson now calls for Buffett's similar retirement to a sanctuary at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, a natural setting where Hugh's mother once lived. The park currently provides a protected sanctuary home to two permanent resident manatees that cannot be safely released into the wild, Betsy and Ariel.

"Buffett could live out the rest of his life in a natural, safe, and legitimate sanctuary," Anderson said. "He could live in the spring water there, and at least live out his final days with some sort of safe semi-freedom. But of course, Mote won't do that because they want to make money off of him."

Save the Manatee Club Director Pat Rose said Lorelei, Hugh, and Buffett "fall into a somewhat grey area of the law."

Lorelei was relocated to the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in 1986, where she lived all but six of her remaining years until she died in 2018.

Buffett's future at Mote

Together, Hugh and Buffett became known for their Super Bowl picks and contributions as manatee ambassadors at Mote Marine. Hugh correctly picked the Kansas City Chiefs to win the big game last season.

Now, Buffett lives alone at Mote. USDA guidelines indicate social marine mammals should be kept with tankmates. Mote Marine has not made public statements about future plans for Buffett and did not return requests for comment.

U.S. FWS spokeswoman Carli Segelson said Buffett is listed as "conditionally releasable," a designation given to manatees when there are questions about whether they could survive in the wild. That includes those undergoing medical treatment or born in captivity and kept long-term.

"The current policy is to try to return releasable manatees to the wild where they can contribute to the wild population and manatee recovery," FWS spokeswoman Carli Segelson said.

Anderson said she won't be holding her breath waiting for Mote.

"They have no desire to release him," she said. "It's like having Lionel Messi as your player, you're not going to release him because he makes money for you. He's the star attraction."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Mote blamed for manatee Hugh's death; calls for Buffett's release