When the state’s wildlife department flung the first handful of lettuce to a starving manatee in the Indian River a year ago, it was an act of desperation driven by a catastrophic die-off and violating an environmental golden rule that animal behavior should not be messed with that way.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission cop might jail an ordinary citizen for such an offense.
The stated goal of providing Florida-grown lettuce to wild manatees was to prevent a repeat of the grim pace of mortalities during the winter of 2020-21 and to dial back the number of animals that had declined to bleeding, listing, emaciated and organ-failing hulks in need of rescue by private zoos, aquariums and theme parks.
