The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature Receives Crucial Grant From Longtime Supporters, the Bishop-Parker Foundation

The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature is proud to announce it has received a generous $450,000 grant to support its manatee rehabilitation work from longtime supporters the Bishop-Parker Foundation.

This generous grant will be used to help fund The Bishop’s work as a Stage 2 manatee rehabilitation facility, which since the late 1990s has seen over 60 juvenile manatees undertake their crucial rehabilitation period at The Bishop’s facility before being successfully returned to the wild, the most recent being Crane, Mandalore, and Kyber, who spent almost a year under the supervision of the Museum’s Animal Care team before their release.

“The Bishop-Parker Foundation has always been such a generous supporter of The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, just as Edward and Lillian Bishop and Mary E. Parker were before them.’ said The Bishop’s CEO, Andrew Sandall. ‘The cost of caring for these manatees is significant, so their continued generosity is so appreciated, particularly in a year where we lost access to a major grant that had been reliably funding our manatee program for the past several years.”

The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature’s relationship with Edward and Lillian Bishop dates to the 1940s, when they were pivotal figures in the creation of The South Florida Museum to serve the Bradenton and Manatee County communities. When the Museum moved to its current location, it added The Bishop Space Transit Planetarium. The current Museum’s manatee rehabilitation facility is named The Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat in honor of Mary E. Parker for her love of manatees.

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About Bishop-Parker Foundation

Inspired by the philanthropic legacies of our founders, the Bishop-Parker Foundation supports nonprofit and public partners who collaborate to advance the Manatee County Community for current and future generations. For additional information, please contact Wendy Deming at wendy@bishopparkerfoundation.org.

About The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature

The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature is the largest natural history museum on Florida’s Gulf Coast. In addition to permanent exhibitions, The Bishop features a constantly changing lineup of special exhibitions. The Museum is also home to the all-digital Planetarium, the Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat, and the Mosaic Backyard Universe.