Video: Manatees Take on Paddleboarders and Win

Check out the video at the bottom of this post.

Manatees might have a reputation for being gentle giants, but those who harass them may pay a penalty.

A group of paddleboaders learned that lesson the hard way recently when they came too close to several manatees congregated in the water near Jupiter’s Catos Bridge.

Gillian Gensler filmed the encounter and posted video to YouTube. She noted in the posting that despite being knocked into the water, the boarders continued to harass the critters.

“These paddleboarders even continued to follow the manatees under the bridge and stay close to them until the manatees finally escaped into a channel,” she wrote.

Gensler posted the video to raise awareness about the need to keep manatees safe, TCPalm noted.

What the paddleboarders did is technically a no-no, according to the law.

See Also:

Watch: Spring Breaker ‘Attacked’ by Manatee

• Florida Manatee Count Breaks Record
• Photos: Rescued Manatees Returned to the Wild
• Manatee Comforts Pooch Stranded in River

Manatees are protected under both the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports on its website. Those acts make it illegal to “harass, hunt, capture or kill any marine mammal.” Florida’s own Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978 makes it “unlawful for any person, at any time, intentionally or negligently, to annoy, molest, harass or disturb any manatee.”

Violation of Florida’s law comes with a fine up to $500 and 60 days of jail time. A violation of the federal laws can carry up to a $50,000 fine and/or a year in prison.

During Spring Break, a woman came dangerously close to breaking the law when her encounter with a manatee was filmed by her friends. The freaked out woman, however, stopped short of touching or harassing the manatee she encountered.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission