Herbicides are brought in to kill the aquatic plants that feed manatees and entangle boat propellers. Another irony is loving manatees to death. Remaining wild is a requirement for survival of an endangered species. Getting accustomed to being petted and gentling to touch makes for a good workhorse but can be fatal to a wild manatee. Fondness of people for food, fresh water or petting only brings the animal into harm's way, whether by attracting it closer to boats and propellers or by causing it to depend on something other than its own animal instincts to find food.
People even disturb manatees' life cycle of sleeping, eating and mating.
Wildlife biologists agree that for an endangered species to survive, it must remain wild. We must allow manatees to do that. Mankind's development of manatee habitat in most of South Florida has forced these mammals further north, where they have found heated power plant cooling effluent and warm water springs such as Crystal River to give them winter warmth. But Florida is on an accelerated pace to fill everything that is wet and wild. One thousand people a day move in, and our visitors who don't stay year-round trailer more than 350,000 boats with them to ply Florida's waters.