Drones can record footage that used to be nearly impossible to obtain.
That happened during a crisis in Florida.
And a drone captured one daring rescue during a brush fire in the Florida Keys.
Manatee rescued during a fire in the Florida Keys
The dry weather in Florida led to an outbreak of brush fires throughout the state.
More than 65 wildfires were reported in the state at the peak.
The biggest wildfire was in Miami-Dade County, which burned more than 26,000 acres after winds spread the flames.
Florida Highway Patrol officials shut down Card Sound Road, one of the two roads into the Florida Keys, because of visibility issues from the smoke.
U.S. 1, the other road into the Keys, was briefly shut down too because of the brush fires.
An injured manatee had to be rescued from an area near a brush fire in Marathon, Florida, in the Keys.
The Dolphin Research Center’s Manatee Rescue Team and Aquarium Encounters members ventured into a brush fire zone near Coco Plum Beach.
It was discovered floating in the water, nearly motionless, before the rescuers were called in.
The nine-foot-long manatee was suffering from a pneumothorax that was likely caused by being hit by a boat.
Pneumothorax is when air fills up near the manatee’s lungs and chest.
“There’s essentially a balloon that’s being created, pushing down on his lung,” Dolphin Research Center director of media and marketing Allie Prokovec said.
Manatees float on the surface of water and tip over their sides once enough air gets built up in them from the condition.
These large mammals are prone to getting hit by boats because they are slow-moving.
Air building in the manatee can put pressure on their lungs and cause them to collapse.
Moving a manatee is a monumental task
Prokovec said that it was urgent that the injured manatee get treated for its pneumothorax.
“It depends on how hard that boat hit them. It depends on how much air is getting in there,” Prokovec explained. “There’s a lot of factors, but sometimes you have just a matter of a couple of days before you are in, basically, a situation that can’t really be reversed.”
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers usually come to pick up an injured manatee and transport them to a rehabilitation center near Orlando.
Brush fires cut off access to the Florida Keys, so the Dolphin Research Center team had to treat the animal until help could arrive.
“The typical procedure is for the rescued manatee to be immediately transported to a rehabilitation facility in Central Florida,” the Dolphin Research Center said in a statement, “Due to the brush fire currently restricting traffic just north of the Florida Keys, this is not possible.”
Rescuers managed to keep the manatee alive until a Fish and Wildlife Commission team could evacuate it once the highway reopened.
The injured manatee was taken to SeaWorld in Orlando, where it will be treated until it’s healthy enough to be returned to the wild.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
