INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) – Drone video captured a woman being startled by a manatee at Indian Rocks Beach recently.

In the video provided to 8 On Your Side by the See Through Canoe company, a woman is seeing wading in the Gulf of Mexico when the gentle giant swims by.

The woman is at first startled, then curious and tries to get a better look without touching the manatee.

Manatees are protected by both federal and state laws and it is illegal to feed, touch, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill or annoy manatees, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.