Woman who rode manatee broke sanctuary law

[Baitball Blogger]

A woman spotted riding a manatee near Fort DeSoto Park in Pinellas County last weekend is wanted by deputies.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office released photos of the women "touching and riding a manatee" at 1 p.m. Sunday in the waters just north of the Gulf Pier. Witnesses called authorities and took photos, but by the time deputies arrived, they couldn't find the woman.

The woman violated The Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, which makes it illegal to "for any person at any time, by any means, or in any manner intentionally or negligently to annoy, molest, harass, or disturb or attempt to molest, harass, or disturb any Manatee."

A violation of this law is a second-degree misdemeanor

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-woman-wanted-for-riding-manatee-20121002,0,595351.story

[DollarBillHines]

1. Your post should come with a warning.

There looked to be two manatees, but the one in the swimsuit was pretty damned frightening.

[leftyohiolib]

2. there's a joke in there about a woman riding my manatee but i wont go there. the problem is you

dont know if the manatee in question was "annoy(ed), molest(ed), harass(ed), or disturb(ed)"

[polichick]

3. Humans can be so obnoxious!

[Baitball Blogger]

6. And tourists are the worst.

If those are Mickey Mouse shorts, it's definitely a tourist.

[polichick]

7. Speaking as someone who grew up in Florida...

...tourists are indeed the worst - we used to avoid them like the plague!

[Eleanors38]

10. "Mickey Mouse?" More like Mickey Moose.nt

[Ganja Ninja]

4. Must resist urge to make mating joke.

[snooper2]

5. The happiest manatee in the sea

[pinboy3niner]

8. Florida has long offered 'Save the Manatee' license plates

On a side note: A friend in Virginia in the mid-80s bought a new car and faced a high annual VA personal property tax on the vehicle. She also owned a beach condo in Florida, so she registered the car in FL (which didn't have a personal property tax on vehicles).

At the FL DMV, my friend was asked if she wanted the 'Save the Manatee' license plate. "I didn't know what a manatee was," she told me. "But I was ready to agree to anything to get registered in Florida, so I said, 'Oh, yes, I'm all for saving the manatees! Let me have that plate.'"

We still rib my friend about her passion for saving the manatees, and she still gets manatee-themed birthday gifts.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. It was a good mistake.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. +10

[lpbk2713]

12. We'll be reading about her losing an arm soon.

Sooner or later she will think it will be a fun thing to feed an alligator.