I am glad that they arrested her. Even if she did not know about the law specifically, she damn well knew that what she was doing was wrong. No one with an IQ over 50 thinks it is acceptable to molest wild animals in this way. I doubt she will due any jail time, most likely she will just get hit with a fine but at least it will send the message to any other idiot that might try a stupid stunt like this that they should think twice about it. The money from the fine should go to conservation efforts to help protect the manatees.

What a joke!! The Pinellas County Sherriff department is way off again. Give her a notice to appear in court instead of arresting her at the place she works?? wtf? I guess this was more important to use resources to catch a Manatee Rider at work that drug dealers on the street??

The joke is now on Pinellas County. LOL...........

"It is unlawful for any person at any time, by any means, or in any manner intentionally or negligently to annoy, molest, harass, or disturb or attempt to molest, harass, or disturb any manatee."

They may want to rewrite that law to say "It is unlawful for any person at any time, by any means, or in any manner to touch a manatee".

While not a good idea, frankly, it does not look very annoyed, harassed, or even disturbed, so until they can get it to testify on the stand, I would certainly argue that point.

How'bout let this stupid low life just ride back to where ever she came from on the back of a shark. At least the shark will have some junk food to eat on the way. Stupid is, as stupid does

Looking at that picture the ONLY thing she should be riding is an exercise bike.

Just sayin.....

And you just KNOW the Manatee was thinking " And they call ME a Sea Cow! "

Unless there is a sign on the things back saying no riding, whos to know? You see pics of people riding turtles and whales and mantas, playing with dolphins and no one is screaming at them. An honest mistake does not warrant arrest at work for this.

Hard to tell on who's riding who.

That's a woman?

If the woman is new in the area and also the fact that she quickly came forward shows some honesty, they should just give her a warning. She didn't hurt the animal, adult manatees can weight more than 800 pounds and in the water carrying this woman is not an excessive weight, if uncomfortable the manatee just need to dive deeper and get rid of her.

As usual some comments are too harsh regarding this incident.

JS in SD I am glad that they arrested her. Even if she did not know about the law specifically, she damn well knew that what she was doing was wrong. No one with an IQ over 50 thinks it is acceptable to molest wild animals in this way.

EVER HEAR OF SEA WORLD??? They ride killer whales and dolphins!

More Florida antics. Wonder how many personally damaging crimes were going down when they went for her?

cut20235 - She never hurt the manatee. How is that wrong?

It's harassment of wildlife and it's illegal. That's how. No further explanation is necessary. I'm very glad they took the action they did. She needed to learn to behave, and this was a good lesson for her.

so just those minor crimes slide by no harm done right? The law is the law is she wanted to ride a 800 lb animanl try a horse.

Manatees get wiped out by the hundreds by boats, this lady didn't hurt the thing, pay a fine, sure.. but to be arrested? That's just stupid.

They should throw the book at her

The manatees were in Florida way before the Gutierrez family floated in

.

The manatees are endangered animals that are protected by ALL true Floridians. They are very docile and harmless. Florida's wildlife, such as the Key deer, need the full protection of the law from idiots such as Ms. Gutierrez.

Deport her ass...

While not a good idea, frankly, it does not look very annoyed, harassed, or even disturbed, so until they can get it to testify on the stand, I would certainly argue that point.

Wow, Kevin C! You can tell from one still photo how the manatee is responding to her harassment? That's truly amazing, considering that you can't see anything of the manatee other than a dark shape in the water.

They ride killer whales and dolphins!

Kumar - are whales and dolphins manatees, Einstein? Reread the description of the law, if you are truly able to read. It addresses the treatment of manatees, not whales and dolphins.

Cow on cow crime.

Jeff N, Spot on and thank you for the laugh!!!!! I needed it after a very long hard day at work.

The crime fighters in Florida have way too much time on their hands. They could have accomplished the same thing with a lot less effort.

cut-2023527

She never hurt the manatee. How is that wrong? If she were going around punching them that would be different. How is it molesting? RELAX

So your walking down the street in whatever city you live in and some guy just jumps on your back and starts riding you like a horse and won't get off. Now tell me, wouldn't you feel molested? So with this in mind, I would say she molested the poor animal regardless if the animal isn't intelligent enough to know, because she was.

just another way for illegals to come into this country....on the backs of manatees.

UMGator

you are a small minded troll, lol. Get a life and learn how to read, lol.

wow! lady get a jet ski!

Tim Mcvia Facebook

The crime fighters in Florida have way too much time on their hands. They could have accomplished the same thing with a lot less effort.

So what laws should "crime fighters" uphold and what laws should they not. If they should not uphold the law, then why is there a law in the first place? There should be no law too little that a law enforcement officer should look the other way. By your thinking we should ignore all laws because someone out there is a murderer and crime fighters should be all over the murderer and pay no attention to anything else. Not sure about you, but i can do more then one thing at a time, so can the police.

I would bet she wouldn't have tried riding it if it was an aligator.

See cow on sea cow.

LOL..they call a Manatee a sea cow also.

She is the one that looks like a sea cow!

@UMGator, read my post again. I believe we are on the same side. My point is that you CAN'T tell that it is perturbed, or affected in ANY way, so therefore, by the strict wording of the law, she may not have committed any crime. So unless you can get a manatee to testify on the stand, there is no proof she violated the law.

You might want to lighten up on the name calling too, since you are the one, who does not look too bright right now.

at least she didn't ride it "gangnam style"!

I think it's the Manatee's time for a ride.

Must be a really slow news day this story was on here a couple of months ago.

A bystander photographed and reported her. She confessed, and the Pin Co law enforcement did their jobs. You don't mess with Manatees, or Sea Turtles around here. She was arrested as part of public policy.

Ft. Desoto Beach has always been a natural experience. No hotels, no sand groomers, just the natural beauty. It is really easy to soak this all up and think, just for a second, that you are part of God's vast network of creations.

If you haven't visited Ft. Desoto, you owe it to yourself to bring some charcoal, some friends (maybe a mountain bike) and stay for the day.

The woman came forward and admitted being the person in the photograph. Why would the cops be arresting her at her workplace and not just give her a ticket and a notice to appear? She will probably lose her job over the cop's actions in her workplace and for no good reason. She wasn't a flight risk. And even if she was, "Interstate Flight to Escape Prosecution for Riding a Manatee" should not be a high priority.

UMGator: Kumar - are whales and dolphins manatees, Einstein? Reread the description of the law, if you are truly able to read. It addresses the treatment of manatees, not whales and dolphins.

UMGator - Do you UNDERSTAND English??? I was commenting on JD in SD's comment "No one with an IQ over 50 thinks it is acceptable to molest wild animals in this way." I believe that killer whales are wild animals and dolphins are also considered wild animals. Perhaps you need to go back to remedial reading!

I see Kevin also had to respond to you UMGator...perhaps I was harsh and you truly don't know how to read or comprehend at an adult level.

What a joke!! The Pinellas County Sherriff department is way off again. Give her a notice to appear in court instead of arresting her at the place she works?? wtf? I guess this was more important to use resources to catch a Manatee Rider at work that drug dealers on the street??

And lets not forget the fact the the police waited a month and a half before coming to this decision...from the article...

"Ana Gloria Garcia Gutierrez, 53, was arrested at the Sears store where she worked. She came forward in October to admit that she was the woman in the photographs..."

October people...october...

Florida officals should use thier time to track some Pedofiles down "that the state seems to be full of ". and can't seem to do anything about. Yet they make sure to arrest a person on thier job site for riding a "sea cow" WHAT A JOKE !! Some of the people making comments on here should be ashamed of themselves, all they can do is talk about a persons weight or color !!

The biggest threat to manatees are boat propellers. The waterways are so crowded down there with boats that just about every manatee you see has scars on their backs from being ran over by boats.

Neko Samurai

so just those minor crimes slide by no harm done right? The law is the law is she wanted to ride a 800 lb animanl try a horse.

Yep, the law is the law. I just have this hunch that you sing a different tune when it comes to allowing illegal aliens into the country.

I'm from Florida and have had interaction with several manatee through out my life. If this manatee didn't want her to ride on him, she wouldn't be riding on him. She is no way "molesting" or "annoying" this manatee. Manatee are higly intelligent, curious and mostly docile animals. I have had manatee approach me several times while swimming or fishing and have pet and interacted with them. I have also had one try to sink my fishing boat. These are extremely powerful animals, simple fact, if the manatee was annoyed or harmed, This lady would be severly injured or worse. The government is overstepping their purpose here and it is obvious. The intent of this law is to prohibit hunting or poaching. She is doing neither.

Google manatee. The first thing you see is "Swim with manatees $45 dollars". The land cow probably didn't want to pay to ride the sea cow. Getting in the water with them always seemed like rolling around in a cow pasture to me. The water is full of their pee and poop.

AlienMartian, your observation is right on. Law enforcement did not show much maturity in the way they enforced the "letter of the law" here. The law itself should be re-written. The idea that tax dollars are being spent for police officers to investigate and pursue anyone that may have touched a sea creature is simply insane. It's also unrealistic to think that anyone new to the area would be aware of such a highly improbable law. The appropriate thing to do in this case would be to simply give this woman a verbal warning.

This woman did the right thing and turned herself in back in October at the police station for this 'crime'. So instead of arresting and charging her then, the police/district attorney chose to wait two months and then purposely go to where she worked to arrest her and haul her off in handcuffs. The community can feel really safe now that the dreaded manatee rider has lost her job.

If I were an employer, and she worked for me, and disregarded the LAW,

I would terminate her, immediately. If she can't respect the law about

Manatees, how could she be trusted to obey other laws, or regulations where

she works? I'm sure she would come up with some excuse, for her disregard

for either her co-workers, or the property of her employer.

People who do stupid things like this, at 53 years of age, should be humiliated,

so that they learn to ASK someone, before they engage in molestation of animals

who have no voice.

thatsthewaylovegoes

I'm glad you're not an employer then. Would you also fire an employee for getting a speeding ticket?

FINALLY... someone remembers that this woman turned herself in BACK IN OCTOBER. I can't believe the cops sent her home in October, then spent all that money to go arrest her at work during the holiday weekend. What crap.

This woman did the right thing and turned herself in back in October at the police station for this 'crime'. So instead of arresting and charging her then, the police/district attorney chose to wait two months and then purposely go to where she worked to arrest her and haul her off in handcuffs. The community can feel really safe now that the dreaded manatee rider has lost her job.

Yeah. What he said.

While not a good idea, frankly, it does not look very annoyed, harassed, or even disturbed, so until they can get it to testify on the stand, I would certainly argue that point.

The reason for establishing prohibitions against harassing manatee, is precisely because they are not aggressive. Every year some idiot wants to walk up and touch a Buffalo, an Elk, or friendly looking Polar bear behind a fence, separated by dry moat which if further enclosed by 20 ft bars - which only have 7 or 8 inches spaces between the bar. Despite the barriers, the obstacle course and the signs every 10 ft around the bear cage, a few years back some woman felt the polar bears were so darn playful, she just had to reach inside the cage; after climbing the fence, the moat and shrubbery barriers to stick her hand inside the fence. The polar bear, acknowledging the new toy "action figure", saw her as enclosure enrichment and attempted to pull her inside the cage. About30 or 40 people had watched and warned her - yet did nothing to stop her.

After the inevitable reaction of the Polar bear, people were screaming for the zoo workers to shoot the bear, shoot the bear - he's killing her!

The bear was darted with tranqulizer and finally let her go. Heres the deal - ther familiarity of the "tame" polar bear gave her a false impression of safety which almost caused the Bear to lose its life.

manette are non- agressive, but if it came down to any thing happening with her near the manetee, some "Human-rights" idiot is going to shoot the manetee - probably because "He feared for his life"!

Manatee are not a toy which God or nature put on earth for our amusement. Hundreds of manatee are injured or killed every year, by speeding motor boats in manatee areas. Manateeoften float on the surface, with only a few inches of them showing. It not people the law are protecting - its the manatee. People have this problem of pushing the boundaries of animals... there is such a thing of "Loving something to death".

The question isn't whether the manatee felt threatened, but whether the manatee was offering free rides and asked you to get on.

Just leave the manatee alone. If you want to ride on the back of a sea mammal - then go to Sea World for the porpoise / Dolphine experience.

For Manatee,- people are a danger to them; because manatee are so slow moving, gentle, non-threatening and non-reactive.

If I were an employer, and she worked for me, and disregarded the LAW, I would terminate her, immediately. If she can't respect the law about Manatees, how could she be trusted to obey other laws, or regulations where she works? I'm sure she would come up with some excuse, for her disregard for either her co-workers, or the property of her employer. People who do stupid things like this, at 53 years of age, should be humiliated, so that they learn to ASK someone, before they engage in molestation of animals who have no voice.

... The city guy came upon a scene right out of an old "LIFE magazine" covers (NORMAN ROCKWELL(1894-1978) is one of the best known of all American Illustrators). Or maybe a currier and Ivys print.rough hewn jeans wearing, weary looking old man sitting on the porch lazing the day away. and there at his feet, an old hound was faithfully watching life go by - secure that his master was safe and content.

... So the stranger wanders over to speak with the man ... wanting to understand what his years have taught him. he clears his throat a time or two worried about how to break the silence and keeping the mood the same - not knowing how to bring words to his thoughts, so he decides to open the conversation by asking the gentleman about his dog. Say Mister, "is it Ok if I pet your hound"?

The man looks him up and down for a second - doesn't say a word, he just nods and shrugs his sholders and leans back in his chair. The city guy sits next to the dog, and reaches over - trokes the dogs big floppy ears...

As soon as he touched the dog s ears, it snaps at his hand - barely missing by less than 1/2 an inch.

Shocked by the viscious attack, he curses the dog and the gristled farm hand.

I thought you said the dog was Ok - it nearly took my and off!

The Old looks at him again. The speaks -"you asked if I minded you petting the dog"... I didn't mind. You should have asked the Dog... everyone around these parts know he don't like to be touched - especially on the ears."

You must not be from around these parts? Or you would have known better. Besides - it ain't my dog. I just feeding and he seems to like being around me, because I bother him too much. and he don't bother me much either.

OMG what stupid comments. It is an endangered species, thereby needed protection from humans. It was the Facebook mindset that did her in. If she would have just did what she did but rub the SoF nose in it by posting it for all see, then she would have lived in on without being busted. She should have been bsuted for being an illegal.

If she's new to the country, she may not realize this would be a problem. Do they have manatees in Mexico? Perhaps they ride them there the same way we play with dolphins.

Oh, yea, that's right. Judge her nationality based on her name. That's about as mature as riding a manatee.

Whatever. The point is that standards in whatever country she comes from may be different. You're hardly one to talk about maturity if you can be sidelined so easily.

She's a damn fool, whatever her nationality. No need to drag anti-hispanic drivel into it.

The manatee may not have been hurt, but I am sure it was embarrassed!

The point is that standards in whatever country she comes from may be different.

AG99 - the point is that she is no longer in her country, Einstein. The laws and ordinances in her country don't count here.

Just curious but what makes some of you think that she is not an American??? Not from the area does not necessarily mean not from this country.

exactly. couldn't possibly be any native born Americans with Hispanic names.... All Hispanics came to the US illegally because there were never any in the SW US a hundred years ago...

A woman of that age should be mature enough to know she's not to be photographed in a bikini top.

UMGator: So you've learned every rule of every country you've ever visited? Yeah, right.

chefaz: Sure, she may be from elsewhere in the US, but it's more likely she came from another country if she doesn't know to leave manatees alone.

It's against the law in FL to mess with wild dolphins also, you can't even feed them.

Whatever. The point is that standards in whatever country she comes from may be different. You're hardly one to talk about maturity if you can be sidelined so easily ...

it don't matter what they do at "home", you don't mess with animals you don't know anything about, besides manatee, as mentioned in the article, are endangered or threatened everywhere they live... due to predation and carelessness by humans.

As far as I know - they exist only in 3 places in the world; Florida and parts of west India/ Africa ( where it is known as the dugong - I think there was an Indonesian species which is considered extinct ) and south America in the Amazonian river

Well, kid, we can't ALL be serial killers.

Well Jim, you're IQ must rival that of the moron in the photo.

Your kidding!

This animal is on par with the bald eagle. Floridians love these animals. If someone was throwing things at a bald eagle, would that be okay? Florida's drug dealers aren't going anywhere, but the endangered manatees are disappearing.

I commend the police for protecting one of the coolest animals on this planet.

R. Scalzo, before you question someone's IQ, you may want to have a better grasp of the use of the English language. It is "your IQ" not "you're IQ."

Can't beat that George Zimmerman and Crayon Martin thing much more.

DT7970

Can't beat that George Zimmerman and Crayon Martin thing much more

sure ya can...watch;

If i had a wife she would look like that manatee.....oh wait.......

( see told ya i could)

Really? Do you have a plan for domesticating the Manatee and turning it to a useful purpose? Maybe Manatee steaks are good. Or Manatee oil could be used for fueling cars.

Relax rebus, it was just a joke to make you think a little. My point was that perhaps when you take away the right for human interaction with nature you take away a bit of our freedom.

You can catch a Manatee with a head of Lettus and a large hook. I have never see someone put on a horsey saddle afterward.

The woman tried to ride a manatee and was arrested. Should we arrest all handsome cab owners or the farmers who uses oxen to pull the plows? Maybe police dogs are being mistreated by being made to take on dangerous duty? Seems to me putting animals into slavery is far worse than what this woman did.

Oh those poor Budweiser Clydesdales. We need to free them now.

Frozen carbonite I grew up on a horse farm. They are very intellignet creatures and I would hardly that they consider them slave when they come running up to you for affection. Many that I have were eager and even help put the bridle on because they know they were going out for a run. Not to mention that the horses of today are a product of man only one montain in all the world has natural horses which look much different from what we think of as horses.

If those animals were endangered, then yes, maybe we would prevent them from being used that way. But they are not endangered.

Frozencarbonite, The key word is endangered. You also may not play with eagles or condors. And yes, humans are their worst enemy but not intentionally, they get chopped up by boat motors. OK...I understand the compulsion to do it, I would think about too, but not do it. I used to scuba and it was tempting to swim up to the whales but I didn't. Its about respecting wildlife and leaving them as undistrurbed as possible.

Manatee steaks are great!

I'll put us some on the grill soon as I get through chopping these mangrove trees out of my fishing hole. :o)

A manatee is a docile but very large and powerful animal and has no idea what she's doing I'm sure. If she gets injured or dragged out to sea, who is going to foot the bill and tie up rescue workers? 53 years old is too old to be acting like a delinquent child. Laws are in place for good reason, and time should be taken to think them out.

Environmental laws are in place to protect wildlife from people, and to protect people from wildlife, and doing stupid things with wildlife.

She should have been arrested for wearing a bikini top.

"Excuse me, Mr. Benny? But have you ever ridden a manatee?"

"Oh, Rochester. Come, now. I would NEVER do something like that! Why, it's disrespectful to nature. It's against the law. And besides, manatees make my butt look big."

Poor Rochester sure do miss them.

Yeah, you're right! Make her spend a few weekends doing some sort of manatee friendly community service. Jail or a large fine would certainly be unjust.

She was ignorant of the law

Then she must be a blithering idiot. The law is posted all over the place in the sanctuaries and anyplace they would gather. Simply another lowlife idiot that thinks they don't have to be guided by the laws. Send her back to the trash trailer park she came from in the first place.

Scalzo,

Yes, some folks do not fully comprehend everything. Unlike you----who knows ALL.

I agree. I suspect without the publicity that came from the video of her circulating the internet, this would have been resolved with a visit by a deputy and a 'don't do it again' speech.

Kinda an overkill arresting her on her job.

Considering she turned herself into the police back in October when this story broke... it's more than "overkill". It's a really crappy thing to do. They should have handled it back in October.

Ignorance is no excuse, signs are posted everywhere in areas that manatee live and where they winter to protect them from human actions. It would have been more effective if they had made her do community service with a manatee conservation group.

Except it can harm the animal. Glad to see that the idiots with IQ's in the single digits are still active.

You're right, manatees roll and dive deep quite often when they are in distress. I can picture her getting whacked by a 30 pound flipper and screaming for help, if she's still conscious that is.

Scalzo, you are quite full of yourself aren't you? Why do you call people idiots and question their IQ just because they have a different opinion from your? You IQ must be preventing you from understanding that opinions are right or wrong, just popular or unpopular.

Can't you just answer the question? We don't have manatees in the midwest, so I wondered why you could not touch them. I understand if you can't touch them, you surely can't ride them. But why no touch?

Sheila, you can't initiate the contact. If the manatee comes up to you that is something else. Even if the manatee brushes up against you, I can guarantee that not a single manatee ever asked for or wanted someone to ride them. As with most animals, human contact often leads to the animals being injured, killed or driven to extinction. Manatees love to have their bodies scratched. Many years ago I can remember seeing a guy standing on a dock with a scrub brush on a broom handle, scratching a manatee who seemed to be loving it. At the time I thought it was pretty neat but now I realize that the manatee would begin to associate the area with getting scratched and spend a lot of time there, around boats which appear to be manatees worst enemies. I don't know what happened to the manatee and that was more than 30 years ago so I don't know if it ended well or not.

People, all too often, feed alligators. That seems harmless until the gator begin to associate people with food and the gator goes looking to be fed one day and ends up getting trapped in a neighborhood, as a nuisance gator and is then destroyed. They may eat a few dogs and cats before they get trapped, just to make matters worse.

All too often, I have read about dolphins that tried to interact with people. Some of the interactions went on for years and then they find the dolphin dead because someone took advantage of the situation and killed the animal.

We should be very happy with the animals we have domesticated and leave the wild ones alone and where they belong. In the long run, it will be much better for them and for us.

I'd be more than happy to have you try to get out of the way when I'm at full throttle. Those two props going over you would be an improvement. but I guess manatees don't frequent your trailer park all that much.

Dumb Manatees don't have sense to get out of the way of a boat.

Bad Bob - manatees are very gentle, non-threatening creatures that move slowly through the water. Boats are generally moving too fast for them to move. One thing for certain, though, manatees have a higher IQ and more compassion than you.

Scalzo, what is your obsession with trailer parks? This is the second time I see you telling people to go back to their trailer park. This is a forum for opinions and discussions. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Don't be so persumptious and arrogant.

Bad Bob go to bed now. In other words out of sight out of mind.

The only "disgusting" person here is not her but Y$$. Learn to spell.

Too funny when you call someone a retard and can't spell, now that is honesty

Discusting (sic) retard...

Heyseed - you beat me to it!

mrhonesty - maybe you should try clicking on spell-check before posting to avoid embarrassing yourself, especially when you are calling others "retards".

Well said m kay! ;)

m kay,

It would be nice to know how the manatee enjoyed the beauty of having that fat cow riding it. You profess to be the worlds greatest animal lover yet seem to have the greatest compassion for only one species. Your own.

JODaPeace: what Kay was trying to point out is you can abuse your fellow person and get less punishment then touching an animal. And she is right on this count. You cannot expect animals to be treated good as long as we continue to treat humans like crap.

It was her own fault that she told authority's where she worked. You see the same thing on those TV crime shows. They will arrest a surgeon when he is in the middle of an operation, rather then wait for him to finish. Where is he going to go?? What's the big hurry?

Seems to me that she had already turned herself in. That seems contrite to me. Arresting her at work when she would most likely have come to the station if they had asked her seems like someone in the sheriff's office like their publicity.

There has to be a law you need to be aware of that you shouldn't be messing with wild life? Too bad she didn't try to ride a Crocodile while she was in Florida. It would have invoked the laws of nature on her. Darwin sees to it that the trait to mess with animals is removed from a specific gene pool.

Touching or playing with wild dolphins is illegal in Florida also. And they're wild animals, it's dangerous. They look cute, but they could kill you.

Rev. Rabid, many species are endangered or threatened because humans are destroying their habitat. Destruction of tropical forests has far-reaching effects, threatening many creatures worldwide.

CoinFL, you're saying it should be illegal to touch dolphins to protect the people who do it? That the reason has nothing to do with protecting the dolphins?

A panda will kill you also. A guy in a foreign countries zoo discovered that last year. He seemed to think that because they looked warm and cuddly, that they were. WRONG!

Hey Iknowthisisfunandallbutreally...,

I see you posted a pic of your family reunion as well...LOL!!!!!! :D

If it were some out of shape, hairy backed man, you probably wouldn't have felt the need to make a derogatory comment, but if a woman doesn't have a perfect body people act like the world is coming to an end. Grow up and get over yourself.

Yes, that is my family and we're a good group. You don't see us molesting manatees. That poor animal will never be the same.....you can apply that to the manatee or the woman.....it makes no difference ;) Crying shame; if you get offended by my post, you offend wayyyyyyyyyyyy too easily. This was a funny article. You just can't make this stuff up!

At least 17.