Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A swarm of more than 300 manatees forced officials at the US Fish and Wildlife Service to temporarily close Three Sisters Springs in Florida, according to various media reports.
Manatees, also known as sea cows, are large marine mammals that are primarily herbivorous. They can be up to 13 feet (4 meters) in length and weigh up to 1,300 pounds (590 kilograms). We’ll refrain from any ‘Your Mom’ jokes.
An average of 65 manatees typically enter the Citrus County springs during cold weather.
However, according to WTSP News in Tampa, nearly five times that many moved into the interior of the springs sometime around noon on Monday. Volunteers on Tuesday counted a total of 293 manatees there as of 1:00 pm ET, and over 300 were there by 1:30 pm ET.
As a result, the USFWS declared that Three Sisters Springs would be temporarily closed, and the agency said that it would continue to monitor the situation. Officials reopened the area Tuesday, but said that it would close again if the rising of the tides caused another mass influx of manatees, according to USA Today.
Laura Ruettiman, an environmental education guide at the Springs, told the newspaper that the manatees frequent the area during high tide and cold weather conditions. She noted that there had been “a record number” of manatees at the Springs this year, and that the increasing number may be due to greater protection in the area and habitat loss elsewhere in the state.
Last month, the manatees at Three Sisters Springs made headlines for a different reason, as regulators moved to place limits on human interactions with the endangered creatures, according to Reuters. Advocates had asked the USFWS to approve bans on canoes and paddle boards in the area, as well as the creation of human-free zones designed to protect the sea cows.
Taking over hu-manatee?
“It’s kind of a madhouse,” explained Kimberly Sykes, assistant manager of the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, which includes Three Sisters Springs. “People are just bumping into manatees, because they can’t see them.”
“Overcrowding, both human and animal, has become hard to ignore at Three Sisters Springs. The 1.5 acre (6,000 square meter) waters are drawing record numbers of manatees seeking to warm up in waters that are heated by springs and are constantly 72 degrees Fahrenheit,” Reuters added.
In fact, over 125,000 people went there to swim with the manatees in 2013, the news agency said, and on some days upwards of 100 tourists per hour are there swimming with the manatees. With the number of people and manatees both on the rise, Manatee EcoTourism Association of Citrus County president Michael Birns said that space is getting cramped.
“We’ve got more people. We’ve got more manatees. What we don’t have is more space,” Birns said. Refuge manager Andrew Gude added that manatees are “very unique as a mammal in that they are so tolerant of people in this area,” and said that he has not seen them come to any harm. That has stopped for the call for limits to the human-manatee interaction.
“Under other Fish and Wildlife Service protections being discussed, only visitors with disabilities would be allowed to take kayaks, canoes and paddle boards into the springs. It is not known how quickly the new restrictions may win approval,” Reuters said. “Some conservationists would like to go even further and see the springs closed all winter.”
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