Two rehabilitated manatees, Luca and Giovanni, were released back into the wild at Calusa Campground on March 11, 2026, after months of care at Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters.
Both animals arrived at the Marathon facility on September 25, 2025, transferred from SeaWorld Orlando for the final stretch of their rehabilitation.
How they got there
Giovanni was rescued from Vaca Key on August 7, 2024, a naturally orphaned calf. He weighed 141 pounds going into rehabilitation.
Luca was rescued from South Sound Creek on May 5, 2025 with buoyancy problems, a common presentation in manatee cases and one that can make it impossible for an animal to feed or rest normally. He weighed 340 pounds at rescue.
On release day, Giovanni weighed 698 pounds and Luca weighed 624. Both were let go at Calusa Campground, where they have other manatees to find.
The only one in the Keys
Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters is the only manatee rehabilitation facility in the Florida Keys, which matters more than it might sound: a rescued animal that would otherwise be trucked to the mainland can finish its recovery in the water it came from.
Manatee rescue in Florida runs on a network of permitted facilities rather than any single one; Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s Jamal Galves has spent his career on the same species in Belize.
The work runs through the facility’s R³EACH program, which covers rescue, rehabilitation and education across Florida Keys species. All manatee activity is conducted under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit MA48324D.
