TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A drone video taken off a beach in Florida may look like it captured a cool experience, but it really shows something disturbing — beachgoers touching, pushing and generally harassing manatees.

“I’m not surprised to see it. People are naturally curious about manatees, but it is also troubling to see,” said J.P. Brooker, the director of the Florida Conservation Program at Ocean Conservancy, the oldest ocean marine conservation unit. “Manatees are a very sensitive species in Florida, and they are very susceptible to all kinds of human interventions. Whether that’s us making the water inhospitable to them or that’s us going up and actually touching them.”

Brooker said that although the people seen in the video probably didn’t think they were doing anything wrong, their actions could have been very harmful to the manatee.

“Manatees can get stressed by humans touching them, riding them, hugging them, even though we think we are benevolent. Our touch really can stress these animals out,” said Brooker.

He said it’s also possible the human interaction interrupted a very important part of manatee life.

“Manatees aggregate when they are spawning and they get together in these large groups. They are gregarious creatures and they go about their business, and we can interfere with that if we are out on the beach and getting into those gregarious groups of manatees,” said Brooker.

He also pointed out it can be a violation of state and federal law to harass manatees in this manner.

Brooker said it’s OK to look at manatees from a distance, but it’s not OK to touch them in any way.

“Manatees are really a charismatic creature, and it’s something we love to see in Florida. We Floridians love to see our manatees, but let’s love them without touching them. Let’s look at them and enjoy their presence but not interfere with the manatees’ way of life,” said Brooker.