Volunteers help return rescued manatee to Ortega River after rehabilitation at SeaWorld Orlando

About six weeks after being rescued from the Ortega River after he was struck by a vessel and injured, manatee Koa was returned to the wild on Thursday. Elmer DePalama first spotted the 800+ pound seacow floating in the Ortega River on Sept. 13, and he knew something was wrong. “So I watched it, and it was just floating around,” DePalama said. “It came into the backwaterway, and it couldn’t submerge.” No one knew it yet, but manatee Koa had broken ribs and could not release air and descend after being injured by a boat propeller.