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Credit: DisneyThis week, Walt Disney World Resort welcomed two new manatees into the SeaBase aquarium inside The Seas with Nemo and Friends at EPCOT. The surprise announcement came weeks after the Central Florida Disney park unexpectedly removed two manatees, Inigo and Lil’ Joe.
Disney Parks fans were concerned when the two manatees disappeared. Lil’ Joe, who was found as an orphan in 1989, had lived at EPCOT for more than 20 years. Inigo joined him in September of 2024. The animals, lovingly known as “sea cows,” can live up to 60 years in captivity – leading Walt Disney World Resort guests to wonder what could’ve prompted their disappearance.
Luckily, fans didn’t have to wait long for answers. In late January, a report revealed that Lil’ Joe and Inigo were moved to the Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park near Fort Walton Beach in the Florida Panhandle. Walt Disney World Resort announced plans to pivot its manatee care program to short-term rehabilitation instead of long-term care.
When injured or orphaned manatees are rescued, scientists make every effort to return them to the wild. Unfortunately, some, like Lil’ Joe, never adapt to their natural environment, necessitating long-term care facilities.
Unfortunately, increasingly hostile conditions threaten manatees in the wild, meaning that more animals need human help. According to a recent interview, Walt Disney World Resort decided to free up its space for short-term manatee rehabilitation.
YouTube channel EYNTK.info recently interviewed Dr. Geoff Pye, Walt Disney World Resort’s Animal Health Director, and Dr. Jen Flower, a Veterinarian at Walt Disney World Resort. The pair of experts expanded on EPCOT’s shift from long-term to short-term manatee care.
“Previously… we have had long-term manatees here at The Seas that we were caring for,” Dr. Flower explained.
“We recently shifted to more short-term rescue and rehabilitation care here with our manatees, so we’re going to be getting even more manatees in from the wild, helping get them healthy, and then releasing them. Disney works with The Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership, which is a group of manatee experts all over the state of Florida and all over the U.S. that care for and protect manatees.”
Dr. Pye said Lil’ Joe and Inigo moved to “great facilities,” giving Disney a chance to help more wild manatees.
“What it’s allowing us to do now is to really get into manatee rehabilitation in a much bigger way,” he said. “Currently, it’s mainly orphans that is the need at the moment, so we’re taking in youngsters…Sometimes, they’ll be ill. We see a lot of pneumonia when we see debilitated manatees.”
Disney veterinarians use a CT scanner to diagnose pneumonia in manatees for effective treatment.
“Once they’re healthy, then it’s really just fattening up them so that they can be released back to the wild,” Dr. Pye said.
“Our backstage area is really great for manatees,” Dr. Flower added. “We have a habitat with a lift floor to allow us to get quick hands on our animals if we need to for medical care. We also have a hospital that is back there to help care for the manatees, where we keep all our medical equipment and supplies. We have state-of-the-art equipment to help us provide the best care possible for these animals.”
“They’re still getting used to this habitat, so they do a lot of exploring,” she said of the new manatees, Minnow and Cider.
Once Minnow, Cider, and other manatees leave Walt Disney World Resort, scientists will track their activity in the wild.
“Typically, they’ll put a transponder with the manatee; that way, we can track them for a good long period afterward, and that really defines if we’ve been successful or not,” Dr. Pye explained. “I feel excited at the moment…We’re really impacting conservation directly. I’m feeling fairly optimistic about the fact that we have an opportunity to make sure that the manatee population in Florida thrives, and that’s really fueling to our hearts.”
Watch the full interview with Dr. Flower and Dr. Pye below:
Have you visited the new manatees at Walt Disney World Resort? In the comments, share your favorite memories with Inside the Magic!