UW-Madison sophomore Mitch Thomas has always had a profound interest in animals. He grew up in a house of dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, but his real passion is a much more unique animal.
“I don’t know why, but I’ve always had an obsession with manatees, ever since, like, third grade,” Thomas said.
Since then, Thomas has exercised his love for the sea cow by swimming with manatees on vacation and being a member of the Save the Manatees club. When the opportunity to travel to Belize for an internship presented itself last summer, Thomas said it was a “dream come true.”
The pre-veterinary student spent two months working at Wildtracks, a primate and manatee rehabilitation center that relies heavily on volunteers and donations, to return orphaned animals to health so they can survive in the wild. Thomas began his internship working as a surrogate parent for an infant howler monkey named Innie.
“[The monkeys] were like human babies, which was kind of funny,” Thomas said. “We had to plan around their nap times and their feeds. They would have temper tantrums if we didn’t let them go where they wanted to, or they didn’t have their favorite fruit or they didn’t want to take a nap.”
Near the end of his eight-week stay, an orphaned manatee was found stranded and Thomas was asked to help rescue and rehabilitate the calf. He said he was infatuated with the animal right away, which inspired the name for the baby manatee.
“Someone put my name on the list of possible names and I thought it was a joke,” Thomas said, “but as they kept eliminating names, mine stayed and eventually they decided to call him Mitch.”
Since primates and manatees typically stay at the rehabilitation center for two to three years before being released, Thomas said the animals he worked with will likely still be there when he goes back this summer.
“I’m excited to see how they’ve all improved and how big they’ve gotten,” Thomas said. “I hope that I can work with Little Mitch and Innie again.”
