Photos in manatee case offer dual role

An amateur photographer's pictures may help identify teens suspected of harassing the animals, and act as an educational tool.

By JENNIFER FARRELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 10, 2000

A roll of film snapped by an amateur photographer could lead investigators to a group of teenagers suspected of harassing manatees last month in the backwater of Jenkins Creek.

Hernando Beach resident Jim Tomlinson took the 35mm still shots after coming upon a teenage boy who had lassoed a manatee and was riding it around a spring-fed pool.

Tomlinson, who is vice chairman of the Hernando County Port Authority, said he thinks the photos captured at least three of the five teens he saw leaving the water after the Feb. 24 incident.

Days later, he turned the film over to an investigator from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Cameron Shaw, a biologist with the federal agency's manatee recovery program, said he hopes the photos will allow investigators to narrow their focus.

"These pictures are considered evidence in a federal criminal investigation," he said Thursday. "There will be an active effort to identify these individuals by name."

Shaw, who has not seen the pictures, declined to comment on the specifics of what they might reveal.

"I know the pictures exist," he said. "I've been told the individuals are pretty clear."

Tomlinson estimated that the three boys and two girls he saw were between 13 and 15 years old. He said the investigator he spoke with intended to visit Springstead and Central high schools, in an attempt to identify the suspects.

Central principal Dennis McGeehan said Thursday that he was aware of the situation but that he had not met with authorities about the case.

"If there was something like that, we would cooperate with them," he said. "I haven't looked at any film."

Springstead principal Dot Dodge likewise vowed to help if contacted.

"Nobody's asked me about it yet," she said.

The photographs represent a rare break for authorities who invariably get called in to investigate after the fact.

Shaw said that acts of harassment against manatees have been captured on film in the past, but normally as a result of a stakeout by law enforcement officials.

"This is one of the few, if not the only, case where a member of the public has captured this on film," he said.

Tomlinson, like Shaw, said he has been inundated with phone calls since a report of the incident was published in the St. Petersburg Times last month. Both men said public reaction has been one of outrage.

"Somebody somewhere has got to pay for this," Tomlinson said. "And if they don't catch them, maybe they can educate some of these young people."

Because manatees are an endangered species, harassing them violates the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, as well as the state Manatee Sanctuary Act.

Violators of the federal law face up to $50,000 in fines and up to a year in prison.

Shaw said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will "absolutely," prosecute if the suspects can be identified.

And even if the case does not go to court, Tomlinson's photographs will likely be put to use in the classroom.

"I can certainly see using this evidence, if for nothing else, then as an environmental education tool," Shaw said. "We can blur out the faces and use it to develop outreach materials that will turn people off to this behavior and help make folks want to do the right things."

Judith Vallee, executive director of Save the Manatee Club, a non-profit organization based in Maitland, said stepped-up enforcement is vital to protecting manatees, especially in the winter when they swim inland from the Gulf of Mexico in search of warmer water. There, she said, they are exposed closely to humans and risk abuse.

"It probably happens much more than we know," she said. "Even though the teenagers probably thought their actions were relatively harmless, it could have had dire consequences for those manatees. These poor animals have nowhere to hide anymore."

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