Florida Tea Party Takes on Endangered Manatees: Says Protecting Them is Against God and the Bill of Rights

Just when you think Florida cannot get any weirder, something crazier happens. We all know that the Tea Party is against big government, high taxes, a speed rail for Florida and Obamacare, but now some Citrus County Tea Party Patriots have a new adversary, the manatee.

A Citrus County Florida tea party group is fighting new restrictions proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife services on boating activities in King's Bay, a federal manatee wildlife refuge since 1980. Manatees have been an endangered species since 1973.

King's Bay, the only place where humans can swim with manatees, is fighting a battle over how much protection for manatees is too much. When the first sanctuary rules were put in place in 1980, there were only about 100 manatees. Now almost 600 manatees use the bay year round. They congregate in King's Bay especially during the winter where the water is warm. An estimated 100,000 people show up each year to see them. Federal laws prohibit fast moving boats in winter only.

King's Bay in summer is the most dangerous time of the year for manatees. A controversial water sport zone allows fast moving boats to zoom through the water. In the past few years 13 manatees have been killed by speeding boats and many others have been sliced by boat propellers and injured.

The government wants the winter restrictions year round, and the ability to close certain areas of the bay to boats if situations should arise. The Citrus Country Tea Party says "No Way."

"We cannot elevate nature above people," says Edna Mattos, leader of the Citrus County Tea Party Patriots. "That's against the Bible and the Bill of Rights. Federal officials want to restrict the whole bay. They don't want people here, and that is wrong."

She adds that the restrictions will erode private property rights. She says she enjoys showing off the manatees to her grandchildren but has little use for the Save the Manatees program. "If some of those environmentalists were around in the days of the dinosaurs, we'd be living in Jurassic Park now," she said

She has sent emails to Tea Party members throughout the country urging them to express their dissent to Congress. Does the Bill of Rights actually say that we have the right to run our speed boats as fast as we can and mow down anything that gets in the way?

I had never seen a manatee until I moved to Florida. King's Bay and the manatees were first featured by the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau in a special called Forgotten Mermaids in 1972.

I have since seen manatees at our aquarium and at an exhibit at Homosassa Springs where you can feed manatees grass and stand right by them in the water. They are awesome, sweet creatures.

Manatees are large gray aquatic mammals with wide bodies that taper to a paddle shape tail. They are slow moving, and have flippers. They have a wrinkled face, whiskers, a snout, and are about 10 feet long. They weigh between 800 and 1200 pounds. Manatees are related to the elephant and are sometimes called sea cows because they are slow moving and gentle. They spend their time resting, traveling and eating sea grass.

They migrate as far as Texas and Massachusetts but are usually found in southern warmer waters. They also congregate in rivers and bays. Because they are mammals they must surface to breathe, coming up for air every 3 to 5 minutes. When resting, they can stay submerged up to 20 minutes.

Manatees have no natural enemies and can live 60 years. They die from polluted water and cold weather, but most manatee fatalities are human related. They die by being crushed in canal locks, ingesting fish hooks and getting tangled in fish lines. Loss of habitat is a factor but humans and their boats are the greatest threat.

Boats driven by humans frequently hit manatees. The boat motor's blade-like propellers kill or wound them. Nearly all the manatees I've seen have propeller scars on their bodies. Many have been rescued and treated by local aquariums.

As a Christian who cares deeply about the environment, I don't think it is anyone's right to run down God's defenseless creatures with a speed boat.

If you feel the same way contact: www.savethemanatee.org or http://regulations.gov

Sources:

http://www.savethemanatee.org/aa_usfws_rule_7-611.html

http://www.savethemanatee.org/manfets.htm

St. Pete Times