On June 5th, 2008, at approximately 11:30am, a friend and I were walking along the north end of Lover's Key Beach. We spotted a fairly large object just ahead on the shore line. When we approached the object, it was obvious that it was the body of a manatee. It appeared to have been cut up by a boat's propellers. A park ranger passed by shortly on his four wheeler and I stopped him to ask if he knew what happened. He was unsure as well but agreed with the suspicion that it was caused by a boat. He stated that the body had been lying on the beach for two days. They had to tie a rope to the animal so that it would not be washed away before they were able to investigate the animal's death. A short time later, I had noticed that a state park boat pulled up with four men on it. At this time I was further down the beach and could not see what they were doing. While walking to the scene, the boat had pulled away from the shore. When I walked by the body of the manatee this time, it appeared that they had done some sort of on the spot autopsy. I hope I never have to come across an incident like that again. It was a disturbing site to see such a harmless creature succumb to another accident by man.