‘Maija the Manatee’ sculpture unveiled at Sirenia Vista Park
Name is in honor of one of the park's first advocates
CASEY BRADLEY GENT
Cape Coral’s newest manatee sculpture, Maija the Manatee, was unveiled Monday at Sirenia Vista Park.
The project was the culmination of a decades-long effort that started in 2003 by four Cape Coral neighbors who wanted to protect local manatees as well as the vacant site off Ceitus Parkway.
Maija Gadient, a Swiss activist who lived in the Cape Coral until recently returning home to Switzerland, is now in her 80s. She was unable to return for the statue’s unveiling. However, more than 20 years ago, Maija gathered three of her neighbors with the intention of protecting the Cape’s manatees.
“This park, Sirenia Vista Park, is here today because of Maija,” said Gigi Yarusso, one of the original foursome. “This manatee statue is here because Meija saw the manatee mothers and babies in the canal behind us, and she knew people needed to protect them.”
Just behind Sirenia Vista Park is a quiet canal with a dead-end.
Maija and her neighbors spent hours watching manatee mothers and calves feed in the peaceful waterway but the group noticed that the land bordering the important manatee nursery was “becoming a dump.”
“Maija didn’t want trash ending up in the canal,” said Eric Nikolai, another of the original neighbors responsible for Sirenia Vista Park and the new manatee sculpture.
He explained that they originally formed a group called Manatee Cape Connection, which sought to convince the city of Cape Coral to purchase the open space they say was being used as a community trash can. Ultimately, Manatee Cape Connection joined Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife and the activists successfully convinced the city to buy the parcel at 3196 Ceitus Parkway and turn it into a park.
Both the city of Cape Coral Parks and Recreation and the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife are jointly responsible for the new sculpture, a shiny gray “sea cow” made from a wood frame covered with lathe and cement. This collaborative addition to Sirenia Vista Park joins an already established butterfly garden, jogging paths and a fishing deck.
“The clean-up of this land, and the manatee sculpture named after our friend, is proof of what local people can do in their community,” said Barbara Jameson, the fourth member of Maija’s original group.
“We don’t need to drive to Fort Myers to see manatees,” Yarusso added. “We have manatees splashing around and even breeding right here in Cape Coral.”
Yarusso, Nikolai and Jameson agree that a new development — with homes lining one entire side of the beloved canal — have made it harder to watch the gentle manatees.
“But the manatees are still here,” Nikolai said, “and I am really happy to have this manatee statue named after Maija. She is responsible for all of this.”
Sirenia Vista Park, a natural 8-acre city park that is also home to an osprey nest and a purple martin house as well as an area for fishing, is at the corner of Ceitus Parkway and Old Burnt Store Road.
To reach CASEY BRADLEY GENT, please email news@breezenewspapers.com