Born free

We're long overdue for some manatee content, but most of the manatee news lately has been depressing -- they're in imminent danger of being downlisted from "endangered" to "threatened", which will make it more difficult to protect them from boaters.

Still, here's a happy story: An extra-large manatee named Marty, nursed back to health from an intestinal infection (and boy do I pity the vet who had to figure that one out), has been released at Merritt Island. Now, manatees are huge to begin with, so when they say "extra-large," they mean "weighs slightly less than a Camry." I like the video of a dozen volunteers dragging Marty from the truck into the crane sling so she can be lowered into the water. (One volunteer's comment: "It takes a village.")