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Recently we had the incident of a mother laughing when a wild buffalo chased her kid who was getting too close. And now we have this woman who was "not aware she shouldn't be riding a manatee".
Where is this ignorance and irresponsibility coming from? These are grown adults not little kids who don't seem to understand that not every animal is a pet. I really am interested in why you think some people don't stop to think about the inherit dangers in dealing with wild animals. Is it because of the many wild animal shows on TV where the host interacts with animals? In the other thread about the buffalo someone actually said it is a shame our kids can't have an "adrenalin rush".
Because people watch too much TV and believe EVERYTHING they see there for one. People are so gullible, they don't know the difference between WILD animals and DOMESTIC animals. You say that these are grown adults, well maybe physically they are grown adults. The truth of it is, is thta if the Buffalo or Manatee had injured anyone there would have been a whopping lawsuit against their owners/handlers for sure.
Oh man, I know people are ignorant but jeez, these people really cross the line. They really need to realize that large animals need their space and can be unpredictable.
Do not wish to take this thread political, but total woeful ignorance of wildlife is just another example of the systematic dumbing down of America. Most citizens know far more about the persons they watch on American Idol than they do about the behavior of a bison or a manatee. While have never overheard it myself, there are reports of people to national parks actually inquiring as where the animals stay at night, who takes care of them, and how they are trained. Many of the animal programs on TV are not realistic and use trained captive animals and are carefully scripted and edited. Many Americans have the idea that if you love an animal it will love you back, an attitude that can get you killed or badly injured.
I have to tell you about this experience we had with a Manatee. My wife and I, her parents and two of our kids were swimming along about 500 ft out in the Gulf in Naples Florida. This manatee swam up to us and was just like an over friendly dog. It actually wanted us to ride on it's back and it kept swimming right under us and then coming up with us right on it's back. My oldest daughter had her camera and could not get a good picture because this critter would push it's face right up against the camera when it was pointed it's way. We were concerned about this animal because there are a lot of boats out a little further and it already had one big prop scar across it's back. It swam with us for a long time and would not get lost. When we came to a little inlet were we know the manatees go in to spend the night we shooed and shooed it until it finally slowly swam into the cypresses, almost as if we had hurt it's feelings. Just slow and turning back until we shooed it again. When we started telling people about this really amazing experience, they just would not believe us. I don't blame then actually. We have encountered manatees before around there and they are always shy and avoid contact but not this one, OUR manatee.
That thing could have pimp slapped her with it's tail. WHACk
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