Manatee caught on camera pushing a young surfer off his surfboard

A manatee pushed a young Florida surfer off his surfboard on the Fourth of July weekend, and it was all caught on cam.

The Blais family was surfing near the Fort Pierce Inlet when they noticed something in the water.

Evan Blais said, “It looked like this the big black-like brown spot in the water.”

As it turns out, it was a group of manatees swimming toward them. “There were four of them. And then two of them swam off,” Evan said.

Mother Lisa Blais said the sea cows paid extra attention to her twin boys, Evan and Logan.

“It was something that was like, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because they never really have been around manatees,” Blais said.

The family’s GoPro caught one of the manatees trying to take Evan’s surfboard away. So, he let the gentle giant borrow it for a minute.

“I got off my board because I was scared of it. And it just took it,” Evan said.

The family said this moment is something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. And it all happened right before the boys’ 11th birthday.

“It’s kind of hard to top because I don’t know how you would top getting manatees coming up to you and swimming around you and staying around your family and just hanging out and, you know, essentially taking his surfboard,” Blais said.

The family told WINK News the manatees swam away shortly after the interaction.

According to experts, anyone who comes in close contact with a manatee should never touch or feed them. Doing so can cause manatees to become accustomed to being around people and negatively impact their natural behaviors.