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Frannie The Manatee Checks Out Of Lowry Park Rehab Center

News Channel 8 photo by PAUL LAMISON

Lowry Park Zoo staff members load Frannie the manatee into a sling. She will be released in the Alafia River later today.

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Published: August 13, 2008

Updated: 08/13/2008 12:30 pm

RIVERVIEW - A young female manatee found entangled in rope, crab traps and a channel marker surely felt a weight lifted from her shoulders this morning when biologists released her back into the wild.

"She's a very lucky girl," said Lowry Park Zoo veterinarian David Murphy, watching as the sea cow disappeared into the Alafia River near the mouth of Tampa Bay.

Frannie was among a record number of manatees recovering recently at the Tampa zoo's Florida Manatee and Aquatic Center.

Frannie lay calmly along one side of a panel truck backed up to a boat ramp at Williams Park, squealing faintly as biologists hoisted her into a sling, then moved her toward freedom.

A team from the zoo and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission walked gingerly down the boat ramp, sliding Frannie into the river.

"She's a valuable animal because she's a female, and they really support the manatee population," Murphy said. "And because she's a youngster, she likely has 40 years ahead of her to produce a lot of babies."

Frannie was found in June on the Pinellas side of the Howard Frankland Bridge with rope wrapped around her left flipper and across her back, entangling her other flipper. She was likely hauling 30 to 40 pounds of cement block from a crab trap before being rescued, Murphy said.

"The sawing action from the nylon rope could have easily severed her limb," Murphy said. "Luckily, she was spotted and rescued in time."

Frannie weighed a petit 525 pounds when she was rescued. Now, she tilts the scales at a hefty 640 pounds.

A crew from the commission conducted the rescue near the bridge's rocky base, state biologist Andy Garrett said. "Not only did she have the crab traps, but she had wrapped herself into a channel marker. It was a mess."

Another manatee, rescued Friday in the Homosassa area, is also suffering from crab-trap entanglement, Murphy said.

"It's very common on the west coast," he said.

That manatee will also be treated at the zoo and, if all goes well, released.

The zoo's Florida Manatee and Aquatic Center is a designated rehabilitation facility for sick, injured or orphaned manatees. The zoo has treated more than 200 manatees since opening in 1991.

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