'This Manatee Is Going To Die In Front Of Us, And I'm Not Letting That Happen:' Deputy

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — A few weeks ago, when toxic red tide levels were high in the waters along the Pinellas County coast, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Marine and Environmental Lands Unit Deputy Jill Constant received a call from a resident reporting that there was something wrong with a manatee in the Intracoastal Waterway.

Some calls Constant receives are from well-meaning residents who don't understand manatee behavior.

"It is normal for manatees to swim into culverts, or for groups to thrash around in shallow water and partially beach themselves during mating season," Constant said.

But as soon as she saw this manatee, she knew it was in serious distress.

“We’re watching it, and it will not go underwater. It just stayed at the surface with labored breathing," she said.

When the exhausted manatee desperately tried to beach itself on the rocks, so it wouldn’t drown, Constant took action.

“This manatee is going to die right in front of us, and I’m not letting that happen," declared Constant.

“We docked the boat, I took off my equipment, and got in. We stayed in the water for two hours holding its head up until it could be rescued," she said.

The manatee wasn’t thrilled about being manhandled or, in this case, woman-handled.

“At the end of the process, it was not happy with us," Constant said. "At the beginning, it was too exhausted, but after a while, it had recovered its strength a little and it started thrashing. I thought I was going to drown, a martyr for the cause.”

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation responded to transport the manatee to a marine mammal care facility for medical care, and the manatee is expected to make a full recovery.

Constant said her passion for wildlife is the reason she joined the sheriff's marine and environmental lands unit.

“I originally wanted to work for the FWC or be a game warden in another state, but my heart was set on Florida, especially when I realized that the PCSO has a marine unit, which is unique because a lot of other agencies don’t have a marine unit that not only does marine safety, but also focuses on preservation and fishing," Constant said. "I wanted to work somewhere I could also do the wildlife side.”

Her brother is a charter captain on the Great Lakes in Michigan, taking people to fish for king salmon.

“That’s what I grew up with. He’s somebody who is just so passionate about preserving the natural environment and preserving the numbers of king salmon," she said. "That was really instilled in me at an early age.”

Now Constant plays her part, not only in keeping Pinellas County waterways safe for humans but making sure that the animals and the ecosystems are preserved for generations to come.

Related: Manatees Are Dying In Record Numbers, But Help May Be On Way

Manatees are especially in need of protection. According to the FWC, they're facing a historic Unusual Mortality Event. There are only about 13,000 West Indian manatees left in the world, of which about 6,000 to 7,000 live in Florida waters.

In 2022, a record 800 Florida manatees died, mostly from boat strikes, red tide toxin poisoning, cold stress or starvation due to the destruction of seagrass beds, their major food source, from pollution. So far in 2023, 332 manatees have died.

While large, averaging 1,000 to 3,500 pounds, manatees aren’t fat. Most of their bulk is stomach and intestines. Without the thick layer of blubber that other marine mammals, such as dolphins, have, manatees are subject to cold stress.

When the water temperature reaches 68 degrees, their already-slow metabolism slows even further, and they can have symptoms such as malnutrition and skin sores. To avoid this, many manatees seek out freshwater springs in the winter, when the temperature is close to 72 degrees year-round.

Now that it's summer, manatees are back in the Gulf and the Intracoastal Waterway in Pinellas County, and Constant is constantly urging boaters to keep an eye out for them.

Most manatees, even young ones, have visible propeller marks from contact with boats. The FWC Research Institute in Pinellas County looked at 10 years of data and found that 96 percent of manatees in the study had propeller scars. Boat strikes account for about 25 percent of all manatee deaths.

Special zones in the Intracoastal Waterway are intended to regulate boat speeds to protect manatees from boat strikes, but not everyone heeds the speed limits, said Constant.

“It’s a slow speed minimum wake in the manatee areas,” Constant said. “Some of the manatee speeds are year-round, such as the one at John’s Pass. In other areas, such as just south of the Corey Causeway, the manatee speeds are in effect April 1 through Oct. 31.”

"Slow speed minimum wake" means that the vessel must be completely off-plane and fully settled in the water, producing minimal or no wake behind it, she said.

Manatees are gentle, friendly animals that aren't afraid to approach swimmers or boaters. However, touching them, feeding them or even offering them fresh water from a hose on a dock is against the law, she said.

Anything that interferes with a manatee’s natural, wild behavior can put the mammal in danger, and molestation of manatees can be a felony, depending on the degree, she noted.

“Education is our most powerful tool,” Constant said. “Most people out here do not have ill intent. They don’t want to hurt a manatee. People just get enamored with how sweet they are, how social they are, and they’ll come right up to you. But it’s that forbidden fruit. You can’t do it.”

While manatees are loveable, Constant also protects some of the more overlooked marine species that are just as important to the health of the ecosystem.

For instance, fishermen can be licensed to collect up to 100 pounds of lightning whelks, an edible species of sea snail, for personal consumption, but she found that people were harvesting much more in the waters off Fort DeSoto Park.

So, she set up an undercover operation and caught three people in one day.

“I was the first person in the agency to make a snail case. I made a whole PowerPoint of the different species of snails to help the others with enforcement," she said.

Constant is also responsible for protecting Shell Key Preserve from marauding dogs and keeping people off designated bird islands covered in mangroves where pelicans, egrets and pink roseate spoonbills raise fuzzy chicks.

But she also performs traditional law enforcement duties — arresting boaters under the influence who put lives in danger and stepping into the middle of domestic disputes at sea.

“You have a lot of freedom out here," she said. "Some people in the unit don’t have as much of an interest in fishing and wildlife, but they love enforcing boating safety and investigating BUIs. You can find your niche out here, and for me, it is fish and wildlife.”

When she's off duty, Constant is an avid angler. Her favorite species to catch is red drum. She's also a certified scuba diver and loves sharks. On a recent vacation, she dove with sharks every day.

She noted that most of the sharks that live in the waters off Pinellas County are harmless, such as bonnethead sharks, which are omnivores, and baby hammerheads, although, while on patrol at night, she's had adult hammerhead sharks and bull sharks approach her boat, some as large as 10 feet long.