VERO BEACH, FL — Humiston Park Beach reopened after a couple of hours of feces scooping Thursday.
The culprit wasn’t four-legged, but instead has flippers, Indian River County officials said. Manatees are responsible for what may have been a mile-long stretch of excrement that piled up along the beach. Late Thursday afternoon, more manatee mess was spotted at Tracking Station Beach Park, officials said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve lived along beaches all my life,” said Bill Becker, who goes to Humiston several times a week. “It was disgusting, but mystifying. It looked like Great Dane poop all along the beach.”
Becker and other beachgoers discovered the hundreds of piles along Humiston early Wednesday evening. He speculated the source was other types of animals or possibly a septic tank spill, he said.
Officials with the county’s Environmental Health Department said they eliminated human waste as the substance when they arrived at Humiston.
“We did a feel and smell test, and based on the description we gave to Florida Fish and Wildlife, they told us it was manatee droppings,” environmental health specialist Charles Vogt said. “I’ve never followed a manatee closely enough to know otherwise.”
Lifeguards closed the beach Thursday morning while county officials investigated the scene and city workers buried the waste several feet into the beach, Vogt said
“I was impressed at how quickly the city responded Thursday,” Becker said.
Vogt said manatees, which are currently migrating alongside the ocean, are capable of eating 100 pounds of sea grass in a day.
It’s rare, however, for their droppings to wash up on shore. Vogt said the wind, which has picked up in recent weeks, may have stirred up the contents of the ocean bottom.
