At 5:40 am on the warm morning of July 29, a group of friends were out running on the Mattapoisett Rail Trail.
As Erin Carr of Mattapoisett explained, she and her friends, David Gerber, Stephanie Poyant Moran, Jonathan Barratt, Nicole Reedy and Allie Straus, were out on an ordinary run until they began crossing the bridge over Eel Pond, when they were stopped by a man walking his dog along the path. The man, Lou, told the running friends of an “unusual mass” he observed not far from shore.
“From a distance, it appeared to be a large rock. But as he got closer, he realized that it was some sort of animal that was caught on the beach during low tide,” says Carr. The six friends, the man, and the dog all approached the shoreline together to ascertain what was out there.
“As we got closer, we discovered it was a Manatee! We weren’t quite sure what to do. We would have liked to have helped it to deeper water, but we weren’t sure why it was beached in the first place,” Carr said.
Wanting to help but not wanting to disturb or jeopardize the status of the creature, the group called the Harbormaster and Mattapoisett Police for help. She added that sharp oyster shells made it difficult to get close to the Manatee, which itself seemed to have been cut up by the sharp shells. The group waited with the Manatee until the officers arrived. Upon arrival, the officers stated nothing should be done until wildlife experts arrived and could strategize the best path forward. The six friends ran back to their cars quickly, promising to turn right back.
About half-an-hour later, Carr says, “everyone was gone – including the Manatee!” Poof! The friends weren’t sure what happened. It seemed the whole ordeal had just disappeared without a trace. Upon calling dispatch, they were informed once the tide rose a bit, the Manatee was able to swim back out into the harbor unassisted. There were no signs the Manatee was seriously harmed from its stint on land.
Carr added, “Stephanie called her husband who operates a local land trust and has connections with local wildlife rehabilitation organizations. He reached out to a contact that he had been in touch with on a different occasion to report another sea animal that washed ashore in Westport. Turns out, they had been tracking the Manatee!”
Many local experts and organizations have been aware over Manatee presence in the area. Generally, this seems to be a worrying sign for the mammals. Per Rhode Island PBS, “A Manatee was recently spotted off the coast of Massachusetts for the first time in almost a decade, and scientists want to monitor its condition to see if a rescue is necessary before it succumbs to the cold water or lack of food.”
Following the sighting in Mattapoisett, the Manatee has yet to be seen again. Manatees typically don’t go farther than the warmer waters of the Caribbean Sea and coast of Florida, leaving experts confused and concerned as to why exactly this “sea cow” is so far north.
The Bike Path Manatee Rescue
By Sam Bishop