Mile-long trail of manatee poop forces beach closure
Manatees the culprit in mysterious trail of feces that forced officials to close Humiston Park Beach in Florida.
By Stephanie RogersMon, Oct 12 2009 at 11:52 AM EST
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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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“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
jack quillman
11/22/2009 20:42 PM
Save our streams -STOP MANATEE POOP NOW
Anonymous
10/15/2009 23:51 PM
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!
Kurt Evans
10/14/2009 07:27 AM
Is that the sign of spastic colon or what?
Ceeza Leo
10/14/2009 00:31 AM
are u serious? what kinda test u gotta do to know what sh*t looks like. lmao silly marine scientists.
Chris
10/14/2009 01:40 AM
They did a feel and smell test to try and figure out the source of the S#!T... Wow... Silly general public.
seth
10/13/2009 20:02 PM
without pictures
Anonymous
10/13/2009 21:49 PM
I don't think anybody wants to see a picture of feces... Especially a mile long trail of it.
JOhn Wilder
10/13/2009 18:38 PM
LOL< those pesky Manatees are something else! LOL
Sam
10/13/2009 18:21 PM
“We did a feel and smell test"
How much do I not want that job?
Guest
10/13/2009 18:09 PM
So they pollute their beaches? Or are you implying that the beaches belong to "us" somehow?
DJ
10/13/2009 16:45 PM
We pollute their water...
Stu
10/13/2009 16:43 PM
well that's pretty ******.
Phil Signet
10/13/2009 16:34 PM
...that also seemed suspiciously human like.
