Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things. We will continue to return them each time just like in 1995. :D

Wayward manatee entertains Texans
08:31 PM CDT on Monday, May 23, 2005


Associated Press



PORT MANSFIELD, Texas – A manatee has wandered hundreds of miles out of its range to a fishing post at the southern tip of Texas, where it is delighting locals with its lumbering grace and penchant for showing flippers and belly.

It's believed to be a Florida manatee, an endangered sea mammal rarely found west of Alabama. Manatee sightings in Texas are rare, usually involving complicated rescues of sick or injured creatures.

But this manatee seems healthy, even playful, as it revels in the fresh water that rolls off boats being washed and the sea grasses that make this town a favorite for shallow-water sports fishing.

"This one may have just been curious and kept moving and said 'Hey, I found me a salad bar that has no competition," said Chuck Underwood, a Florida-based spokesman for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Fish & Wildlife has asked locals to help monitor the animal, both for habitat research and in case it overstays the season. Water colder than 68 degrees can cause manatees to go into potentially fatal hypothermia that slows them down and causes them to stop eating.

Florida manatees, a subspecies of the West Indian manatee found throughout the Caribbean, are migratory and vegetarian. They live in saltwater but search by instinct for fresh water and underwater plants.

Once prevalent, their numbers have been depleted by humans – their only natural enemy. American Indians and early colonists hunted manatees for their bones, hides and blubber. More recently, they have been killed by encounters with boats, fishing lines, dams and canal locks.

One widely watched rescue took place in 1995, when a 1,400-pound manatee named "Sweet Pea" got stuck near a sewage treatment plant in Houston. It had to be strapped into a C-130 cargo plane and flown to Florida.
The Port Mansfield manatee showed up earlier this month and now appears almost daily.

It is believed to be about 8 feet long and weigh between 400 and 600 pounds. Locals think it's a male, though no one knows for sure. An average adult is about 10 feet long and weighs between 800 and 1,200 pounds.

"It shows up quite often," said Steve Basham, owner of the Port Mansfield marina. "Fresh water comes off the boats and he comes to drink the water."

Linda Neal, who works at the marina, said some people think the manatee also was hanging around last summer. If it was, she said, it wasn't quite so social.

"He comes right up to you in the boat slips," she said. "Several people have gotten to pet him."

Neal and others now have photos of the manatee socializing.

But Fish & Wildlife officials are asking people not to initiate contact with the manatee because it may lose its natural instincts.

"Our biggest concern is trying to keep the public from interfering with its movement," Underwood said. "Wildlife becomes dependent upon people, they quit being wild."

Neal said people are trying to heed the advice, but it's difficult.

"They've told us not to feed it, but he's coming up to the boats to drink the fresh water," she said. "We're not going to deprive him of fresh water."

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

Yep, those bast@rds are getting overpopulated, so they're finding new territory. :rolleyes:

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

You better hope the $ave-the-manatee club doesn't hear about this! :eek:
Dean

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

I'm callin em ....maybe they'll go out to Texas and Make Life Miserable for them ..... :rolleyes:

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

Contrary to what the SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB would have you believe, they are so overpopulated in Florida, now they are looking for greener pastures. ( sorry could not resist)
We have plenty more and if you think they are CUTE, we will be more than glad to send you the rest of them.

Dail

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

They've depleted the Sea Grass here and are now moving on.
May you enjoy them as much as we do. :D

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

Wait until the sucker dies and they blame it on a boater.

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

Since I know how much you Texans like to BBQ, here's some helpful information.

Tail - cut across the base of the tail just below abdomen
Flipper - sever the joints where flippers attach to body
Peduncle - meat from peduncle muscles
Torso - remaining meat from the back and ribs

Appearance of meat cuts

Tail - light pink to white with internal bands of hard white fat that appear circular in cross sections and run lengthwise near the tailbone
Flipper - darker in color with small fat deposits along tendons
Torso - similar to meat from tail but without fat bands

A* - top of neck, cube or use mallet
B* - neck meat, cube or use mallet
C - back, tender
D - body meat
E - peduncle, very tender
F - tailmeat, very tender
G* flipper meat, must cube or use mallet
* less tender cuts

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

This is the part that I like. Notice that it doesn't say anything about landing the plane in Florida. Maybe they just dropped it like a bomb before returning home to Texas, :D .

One widely watched rescue took place in 1995, when a 1,400-pound manatee named "Sweet Pea" got stuck near a sewage treatment plant in Houston. It had to be strapped into a C-130 cargo plane and flown to Florida. [B]

Re: Florida, we don't want to feel your pain. Stop importing these things.. :)
 

Here in Texas they will block off two weeks for a hunting season before they ever protect them.... :cool: