Scientists standing by to rescue rare manatee sighted in cold New England waters

BOSTON (AP) — A manatee was recently spotted off the coast of Massachusetts for the first time in almost a decade and scientists want to monitor its condition to see if a rescue is necessary before it succumbs to the cold water or lack of food, they said Friday.

The threatened species, which makes its habitat in warmer southern Gulf waters in places like Florida, was first seen July 26 off the southwestern coast of Cape Cod in the area of Nantucket Sound. Mashpee resident Jennifer Sullivan took a video of it swimming alongside paddle boarders in an inlet behind a marina surrounded by sea grass.

She said on Monday that she found the manatee, which was as long and wide as her paddleboard, “just lazing around there in the grass going as slowly as possible.”

“It was completely unfazed by us