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Florida park goers riding, standing on protected manatees

From Daily Herald news services

Florida park goers riding, standing on protected manatees

Scripps Howard News Service

By ELLIOTT JONES

Scripps Howard News Service

As a kayak nature guide, Steve Cox likes to get his clients close to nature, including manatees in the Indian River Lagoon.

But he says some Round Island Park visitors have been getting way to close to the state-protected gentle giants.

Recently, Cox said he saw a man standing on top of a manatee submerged in the water. A couple nudged another manatee to the park's small sandy beach so people could pet it.

When Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Christine Rush was at the park three weeks ago, she said one youth boasted of riding a manatee, holding onto it while it swam. Others told of taking pictures of people sitting on a manatee.

On June 8, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers began giving out warnings to people at the park.

"It was out of control," Rush said of what people were doing with the large marine mammals known for their docility and slow movement.

"It was harassment," agreed biologist Ann Spellman, who specializes in manatees at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. State law requires people keep their hands off the creatures.

That includes swimming with them and feeding the manatees. Some park visitors have been giving manatees iceberg lettuce and cabbage, Spellman said. The wild animals normally live off underwater sea grasses or shoreline vegetation that provides the nutrition they need.

Soon, the state plans to post signs at the park telling people it is harassment -- subject to a $500 fine -- to feed or pursue a manatee.

"We don't want this to become a Crystal River," Spellman said, referring to the state park in Citrus County where people congregate to be with manatees. "They are violating laws (protecting manatees) left and right."

Getting manatees too used to humans can put them in harm's way, such as being hit by boats, Spellman said. In the first three months of this year, one manatee died because of a collision with a boat in Indian River County, state reports show.

Last year, no manatees died of watercraft related injuries in the county. "Normally, Indian River County is very good with manatees," Spellman said. "We want to keep it that way."

(Elliott Jones is a reporter for the Vero Beach Press Journal in Florida)