Crowds of beach-goers were filmed yesterday (May 19) harassing two protected manatees in Florida in the USA.

Drone footage filmed in St Petersburg showed more than 20 swimmers surrounding the shy marine mammals and at times blocking their path as they tried to swim away.

It is illegal to feed, harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, annoy, or molest manatees, according to the website of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The filmer said he informed local authorities to report the incident.

I took this video of a crowd of people gathered around 2 Manatees at the beach yesterday morning.
Although Manatees are no longer on the endangered species list, they are still protected by a few different state and federal laws. You are not supposed to touch, feed, chase/follow or otherwise harass them.
Some of the people in the crowd appeared to be trying to surround and herd the Manatees to keep them from leaving. When the Manatees would try and leave, someone would get in front of them to try and block them. Manatees can be very timid and easily scared and confused. The proper authorities were called right away to report the incident.