MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, Alabama — What is believed to be the first successful manatee rescue ever attempted in Alabama waters played out on New Year’s Day along the Magnolia River, drawing together marine scientists, veterinarians and dozens of local volunteers even though the rescued animal ultimately did not survive.
Residents in this quiet Baldwin County river community had noticed stranded manatees showing signs of cold stress — pitted, discolored skin — near a spring-fed area of the river known locally as the “Cold Hole” in the weeks before Christmas. Unlike most years, when manatees migrate to warmer Florida waters by mid-November, these animals lingered through the winter for reasons that remain unclear.
Dr. Ruth Carmichael, who leads manatee sighting and stranding response for the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, said New Year’s Eve marked the first time the animals stayed still long enough near shore for a rescue attempt. The following day, a team that included sea lab technicians, an aquatic veterinarian and a marine mammal specialist from the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans worked alongside more than 20 community volunteers to net one of three manatees spotted in the area.
A second rescue attempt hours later was unsuccessful after the net snagged on debris in the Cold Hole, a spring-fed basin roughly 30 feet deep, allowing that manatee to escape back into open water. The first animal, meanwhile, was wrapped in blankets, given supplemental oxygen and loaded into a truck for transport to a Florida rehabilitation facility, but it died shortly after crossing the state line.
A necropsy performed back at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab confirmed severe cold stress, including open lesions across the animal’s underside consistent with a prolonged, serious illness. Carmichael said the sea lab planned to continue monitoring the Magnolia River for the two remaining manatees in hopes of coordinating another rescue before conditions worsened.
The episode highlighted both the vulnerability of manatees that stray into south Alabama’s cooler winter waters and the willingness of Baldwin County residents to mobilize on short notice to help protect wildlife long associated with Florida’s coastline rather than Alabama’s.