Mile-long trail of manatee poop forces beach closure
Mon, Oct 12 2009 at 11:52 AM EST
Read more: ANIMAL RESEARCH
Photo: Allie Caulfield/Flickr Swimmers and sunbathers arriving at Humiston Park Beach in Vero Beach, Florida got a disgusting surprise last Wednesday evening when they found a mysterious mile-long trail of large feces in the sand.
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Digg“I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve lived along beaches all my life,” onlooker Bill Becker told TCPalm. “It was disgusting, but mystifying. It looked like Great Dane poop all along the beach.”
Officials with the county’s Environmental Health Department were able to rule out humans as the source of the mess on arrival at the beach, but it took a bit more digging to determine the actual culprit.
“We did a feel and smell test, and based on the description we gave to Florida Fish and Wildlife, they told us it was manatee droppings,” environmental health specialist Charles Vogt said. “I’ve never followed a manatee closely enough to know otherwise.”
Not that a big group of manatees came ashore to use the beaches as their own personal open-air privy. The excrement was washed onto the shore, probably stirred up from the ocean floor by strong winds.
A couple hours of poop scooping took care of the problem and the beach was reopened by the following afternoon.
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Comments(14)
Posted By Anonymous - Thu, Oct 15 2009 at 11:51 PM ESTPooper Scoopers gone wild
This would probably make for a nice scenario for electricity generation. Uh, there was a plan for that after the several hours of collecting it right? Ah, crap!
Posted By Kurt Evans - Wed, Oct 14 2009 at 7:27 AM ESTAll the poop
Is that the sign of spastic colon or what?
Posted By Ceeza Leo - Wed, Oct 14 2009 at 12:31 AM ESTDid a Feel and Smell test?????
are u serious? what kinda test u gotta do to know what sh*t looks like. lmao silly marine scientists.
Posted By Chris - Wed, Oct 14 2009 at 1:40 AM ESTYour kidding, right????en
They did a feel and smell test to try and figure out the source of the S#!T... Wow... Silly general public.
Posted By JOhn Wilder - Tue, Oct 13 2009 at 6:38 PM ESTWowsers
LOL< those pesky Manatees are something else! LOL
Posted By Sam - Tue, Oct 13 2009 at 6:21 PM ESTMana-feces
“We did a feel and smell test"
How much do I not want that job?
Posted By Anonymous - Tue, Oct 13 2009 at 6:09 PM ESTOnly Fair??
So they pollute their beaches? Or are you implying that the beaches belong to "us" somehow?
Posted By Stu - Tue, Oct 13 2009 at 4:43 PM ESTMile-long trail of manatee poop forces beach closure
well that's pretty ******.
Posted By Phil Signet - Tue, Oct 13 2009 at 4:34 PM ESTI once saw geese droppings...
...that also seemed suspiciously human like.
stop manatee poop !
Save our streams -STOP MANATEE POOP NOW