A trio of manatees, including 2 former mates named Romeo and Juliet — are finally being relocated after a viral video showed their isolated conditions, and the guy who helped make it happen is glad something’s finally happening.
Phil Demers is the head of a whistleblower org called Urgent Seas, and a video he posted last month blew up on the Internet — it showed the manatees, specifically Romeo, toiling in despair at the Miami Seaquarium.
TMZ.com
Romeo’s counterpart, Juliet, was being kept separately and also alone in the Seaquarium … not to mention a third manatee named Clarity. After Demers published his video though, public backlash forced the company’s hand.
Sadly, it doesn’t sound like Romeo and Juliet are going to be reunited anytime soon … and they probably won’t even be released into the wild, and Demers tells us why. Still, the fact the manatees are going to better facilities with proper care is a ‘W’ in his book.
He says the fact this is happening is proof public pressure can, in fact, spur positive change and he’s glad the manatees will get a new lease on life.
The Miami Seaquarium, meanwhile, said this was the plan all along … although, it’s unclear if anyone’s really buying that.
