Posted on 02/29/2020 9:25:45 PM PST by nickcarraway
“Seriously - what harm did he cause?”
None. These animals take hits from props way to often and survive. Being touched by a fishing pole that has been scrutinized for safety by probably a dozen different government safety organizations to not harm soft skinned people, is not only an overkill, but is a real good opportunity for the filmers to get their company name in print for publicity, “See Through Canoe, a local watercraft manufacturer.” People swim with manatees all the time in Citrus County at Crystal River.
Shame it had to create an unsafe situation (possible death threats) for someone that wasn’t hurting the animal for some free publicity.
rwood
LOL! We did the tourist thing and did that too :)
It was a clear breaking of a protection law that he undoubtedly knew about. It was wrong and he should receive whatever punishment the law specifies, to help to keep him and others from doing it again.
Death threats of course are over the top and wrong in another way.
“... did that too.”
Really amazing to be next to such a huge animal and have such trust it will never harm you unless you do something wrong with it. And they are so docile.
rwood
When we did the manatee "swim" one manatee swam over to my girlfriend, put his mouth near her head and started sucking on her hair. She was close to freaking out but realized he was just "smelling" her.
Amazing how gentle they are with how large they are.
“Amazing how gentle they are with how large they are.’
They have no natural enemies, consistently. They can be attacked by a gator on occasion, but the gators generally give them a wide berth. With the increase of sharks, mainly bulls, coming into fresh water more often, they will hit a manatee, but it is rare.
The only real problem they have is man. Boat prop hits are frequent in Florida where they live. Most injuries are superficial but other manatees aren’t so lucky. These slow-moving animals can be struck perilously and frequently by boats, which can lead to deep wounds, internal damage and even occasional deaths. You may have seen scars on the manatees you swam with at Crystal River as they are not held there but are free animals. Sad.
rwood
Any time you read “the internet is BLANK” it means leftists on twitter.
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