Visitors go wild over life in park

Visitors can view marine life from the observation deck or an underwater room.
HOMOSASSA, Fla. -- For an informed and personal look at indigenous Florida wildlife, visitors go to the Nature Coast in west central Florida.
One of the showpieces of the area is the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Homosassa, Fla., just north of Tampa.
The park is a refuge and rehabilitation center for orphaned, injured and endangered local wildlife, especially the West Indian manatee.
What it's like: Positioned above a warm-water spring on the Homosassa River, the park is uniquely suited to care for threatened manatees. A gated lagoon protects the manatees while allowing fish and other river life free access to the spring.
Injuries are a common problem for manatees. Virtually every manatee in the river has one or more scars on its back left by boat propellers. Others are cut by fishing lines or caught in nets and drowned.
The most seriously injured, if they're lucky, are found and taken to the park. Some can be treated and released. Others must stay in captivity permanently.
One longtime resident, Amanda, had both her flippers nearly severed by fishing lines. She can't swim, and spends her time in the shallows of the lagoon.
Neither the park employees and volunteers, nor the public, are allowed to swim with manatees inside the park, but just outside its protected lagoon is an area of the river very popular with snorkelers and wild manatees.
An observation deck above the lagoon and an underwater room below it allow visitors a firsthand look at marine life.
What to see: Thousands of fish, turtles, crabs and birds congregate in the warm lagoon, and manatees swim into a nearby bumpered pool every day to feast on cabbages and carrots.
A bridge that crosses the lagoon is a good place to watch cormorants dive underwater to chase the schools of fish, or to follow a blue crab on its erratic walk across the river bottom.
Apart from the lagoon, the 185-acre park is home to many other endangered species or injured wildlife in as natural a habitat as can be devised.
Most of the animals there, park officials say, could not survive in the wild.
Nature trails wind through the exhibits amid restored wetlands and hydric hammock environments.
Species represented at the park include alligators, black bears, bobcats, western cougars, snakes, white-tailed deer, river otters, flamingos, pelicans, herons, and half a dozen species of owls.
A raptor enclosure includes a bald eagle, a caracara and several kinds of hawks.
Educational programs are held hourly at various locations in the park. There are also a Museum Education Center, a Tourist Resource Center, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Manatee Education Center, picnic area, boat docks, gift shop, snack bar and restaurant.