HOPEWELL, Va. — A Virginia woman says she experienced a once-in-a-lifetime encounter Saturday when she spotted a manatee swimming the Appomattox River near the Hopewell marina.
Dawnn Thornton told CBS 6 she was waiting with her husband and a friend for the city’s 250th anniversary fireworks when they noticed movement in the shallow water near the boat launch.
“He thought it was a huge fish,” Thornton said. “He comes straight up to us, and that’s when we realized it was a manatee… I might as well consider this like a unicorn, because I’ve never seen one, especially not in Virginia.”
Thornton estimated the animal was eight or nine feet long, with barnacles on its back but no visible injuries.
She said it appeared healthy and “huge… it’s been eating good.”
The marine mammal lingered in view for five to six minutes, swimming upriver toward a fishing dock before returning and heading east down the river.
Thornton filmed the sighting and posted the video to Facebook, where it drew widespread attention.
Watch: Manatee spotted swimming in Appomattox River
“I was surprised, pleasantly surprised,” she said. “Probably be the only time I’ll ever see one, and to see it in Hopewell was crazy.”
Manatees have occasionally been spotted in Virginia rivers as far back as the 1980s, according to sightings shared with Thornton since her video went viral.
Reports have placed them as far upstream as Mayo Bridge in Richmond and in the York River and Mathews County.
Thornton said she has since learned that such sightings should be reported to the Virginia Aquarium’s stranding response team, which monitors the health and safety of marine mammals in the area.
Manatees are federally protected, and it is illegal to feed, swim with or otherwise disturb them.
“Just let them be,"she said.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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