Cape Coral manatee home after 6 months recovering from boat strike

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) - A manatee is back home after a rough few months recovering from serious injuries caused by a boat strike.

Pneubelle, a 755-pound manatee, returned to the Cape Coral canals after spending six months recovering at ZooTampa.

Neighbors Denise Helfrich and Francine Brown were among the first to notice something was wrong.

"It just pained me to look at the huge scar down her back, and her back fin was all mangled when she was swimming in the water," said Helfrich and Brown.

Last December, neighbors reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that they spotted a manatee floating in the Cape Coral canals with lacerations on her back.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says Pneubelle was hit by a boat, leaving her with a fractured rib and a punctured lung cavity.

Molly Lugee of FWC said the team acted quickly once they got the call.

"Down at the end of this canal here, we mobilized, rescued her, and she's been at ZooTampa ever since," Lugee said.

Through medication, exercise and love, Pneubelle's caretakers at ZooTampa said her recovery stood out.

"She was only in for about six months, which is pretty crazy. A lot of our pneumothoraxes are in for longer time, just with how the different healing process works with how big that hole is in that lung cavity. So it really just depends on each manatee and luckily for her, she was able to get back out pretty fast," said Pnuebelle's caretaker, Erin Schulz.

Throughout her rehabilitation, Pneubelle developed a close relationship with Schulz.

"Because her case is called the Pneumothorax, that's how we got the "Pneu" for the "Pneubelle". And then she was rescued right before Christmas, so we were trying to come up with different Christmas symbols, and you see a lot of bells around Christmas time, so that's how we ended up with Pneubelle."

Now, ZooTampa, FWC and neighbors are using Pneubelle's story to remind boaters to slow down on the water, especially this summer.

"We see people going 25 miles an hour in the canals, and people just don't think. They really need to slow down," said the neighbors.

ZooTampa caretaker Erin Schulz said there are simple steps boaters can take to protect wildlife.

"Not only manatees, turtles, dolphins, all the other animals that use the waterways, that's their home, and we're just using it to have a good time. So, just making sure that we respect the wildlife that lives there. Wearing polarized glasses really makes a huge difference, because you're able to see all those animals through all that glare. And then having a person designated to look out for animals," Schulz said.

To report an injured manatee near you, FWC urges to call their Wildlife Alert Hotline at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922).