On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:39:21 -0800 (PST), Jack
wrote:

Was once snorkelling in a spring and a manatee came up and obviously
wanted to be scratched. *We tried to stay away from it but it kept
coming up to us.

Is manatee scratching a common thing?

What is fairly common, is peeople giving them fresh water from a
garden hose. Manatees really like that and come to expect it from
other people. They usually lay on their backs and just guzzle it in.

I'd be concerned about attracting them to the neighborhood. They have
incredibly bad halatosis and if one got killed nearby we'd probably
get swarmed by a new round of lobbying efforts. People who like
manatees should adopt one for a pet.