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Russell Wallace Phelps
(courtesy Volusia County Animal Control)
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An
animal handler specializing in marine mammals was arrested last
weekend for offering cocaine to his pet manatee in an Applebee's
restaurant in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Russell
Wallace Phelps, 44, had been causing a disturbance in the Applebee's
and was asked by management to leave. Phelps exited to the parking
lot and returned to his van, which contains a built-in portable
aquarium. He then re-entered the restaurant with his leashed manatee.
The
1300 pound adult manatee did not react well to the casual dining chain's standard-issue interior. After approximately ten minutes out of water, it
collapsed in the middle of the restaurant, refusing to move.
"It
just puddled," said one eyewitness. "That's when the guy
brought out the brain tickler."
Phelps
reportedly tossed cocaine at the manatee, rubbing the white powder in
and around its snout in an apparent attempt to get the marine mammal
moving again.
Phelps
was recently laid off at nearby Marineland, where he had done some
off-and-on consulting behind the scenes. Restaurant patrons claim
Phelps had been in a severely agitated state from the time he
entered, likely due to cocaine usage. Some claim to have heard Phelps
complaining about luke-warm riblets.
It
took a combination of five Daytona Beach Police and three Volusia
County animal control officers to wrestle Phelps away from the
Manatee and the cocaine. The manatee was not harmed, or even
affected, by whatever cocaine it inhaled, and was handed over to a
local nonprofit aquarium for safekeeping.
Phelps
was arraigned on charges of public disturbance, drug possession, and
animal cruelty. If found guilty, his future as an independent animal
handler in the state of Florida could be in jeopardy.
