A video made last month shows Romeo, a manatee over 60 years old, isolated in a small aquarium pool.
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Drone footage captured last month by UrgentSeas, an organization working to expose zoos and aquariums mistreating animals, was shared on social media, shocking viewers with images of the 67-year-old manatee, Romeo, living in painful isolation at the Miami Seaquarium.
In the shocking video, the mammal is seen swimming alone in a small pool, where the animal rights group claims he is confined. “Manatees are moderately social animals and suffer psychologically when not living in pairs or groups,” says the video’s caption, which has been viewed over 3 million times.
Following complaints from the animal advocacy group and a damning report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about conditions at the park, the pair of manatees, who have lived in the Florida aquarium since 1956, will finally be relocated. The couple, named Romeo and Juliet in homage to Shakespeare’s famous lovers, will spend the rest of their years in a sanctuary where their medical and social needs can be met with the care they deserve.