Emoji The Manatee Dead After Health Struggle, Lowry Park Zoo Reports

TAMPA, FL — The folks at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo are mourning the loss of Emoji, an orphaned manatee calf that was brought to the facility’s hospital in late October. The male calf had plastic bags in his stomach when he arrived and received “intense around-the-clock care during a very critical period,” the zoo reported Tuesday.

Emoji had shown some signs of improvement since arriving at the zoo. His release into the manatee viewing area was announced by zoo officials just last week. Despite the improvements, zoo officials say Emoji’s health never fully recovered. He died at 2 a.m. Monday, a Tuesday email from the zoo stated.

“Emoji is a tragic illustration of the consequences that simple human actions have on the world around us,” said Dr. Ray Ball, senior veterinarian for Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. “Now more than ever, we must hold ourselves accountable, whether that’s keeping trash and plastics out of our waterways or being more mindful of potential consequences of propeller strikes on wildlife while boating.”

Emoji was one of the youngest calves ever brought into the zoo’s rehabilitation program, the email noted. He was estimated to be about 2 weeks old when he arrived and weighed in at only 66 pounds when officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found him and brought him to the zoo’s manatee hospital.

“Among other dire health concerns, veterinarians also found Emoji had plastic bags in his stomach,” the zoo’s email said. “Many orphaned calves also mistakenly ingest fishing line, fishing hooks and other pollutants while searching for food. While the Zoo’s animal care team was able to initially stabilize Emoji, his long-term odds remained uncertain given the number of health concerns he faced at such a young age.”

Just what caused Emoji’s death remains under investigation. The zoo intends to perform a full necropsy.

The loss of Emoji is weighing heavily on members of the manatee care team, the zoo reported. Team members “are incredibly saddened by this loss and hope this serves as a teachable moment for the public on the dangers of plastic pollution.”

Emoji was named in honor of a campaign the zoo kicked off during November’s National Manatee Awareness Month. The campaign is meant to get Unicode to create a manatee emoji to raise awareness for Florida’s endangered sea cows. That campaign will continue “as a memoriam of the young calf and a way to educate the public on the dangers that face this species in the wild,” the zoo’s email said.

“The more we can get people talking about manatees and ways to protect them, the better,” Ball added. “It’s a lesson that a simple human behavior like not throwing trash in waterways, can prevent manatee injuries and deaths. The emoji would serve as a reminder and dedication to the manatee calf. It’s a promise that we will always be there to protect future manatees like him.”

For those who don’t know, emojis are the cartoon-like images often used in computer-based communications, such as those smiley faces that pop up on Facebook and other social media sites. The caricatures have been created for all sorts of animals, but manatees just haven’t made the cut. Unicode is the organization that oversees the creation of emojis.

The zoo has obtained the 25,000 signatures it needs to submit a petition to Unicode. A proposal is being put together to submit to Unicode, zoo officials have said.

Lowry Park Zoo opened the David A. Straz Jr. Manatee Hospital in 1991 to provide care for sick and wounded manatees from across the state. Since its inception, the hospital has cared for more than 400 manatees.

Manatees cared for at the hospital come in suffering from a variety of conditions. The zoo’s team has treated manatees for such concerns as boat strikes, red tide exposure, cold stress and entanglement. The hospital also takes in orphaned manatees like Emoji.

Lowry Park’s manatee hospital is the only nonprofit, acute care facility of its kind and is one of only three federally permitted rehabilitation facilities in the state, the zoo said.

As a nonprofit organization, the zoo relies heavily on donations to fund its manatee hospital and other animal care efforts.

“Without support from you and others in our community, the zoo cannot continue critical care of manatees,” it explained on its website.

To help fund the hospital’s manatee rehabilitation and release program, visit Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo online.

Photo courtesy of Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo