Nigeria probes video showing manatee dragged down street

LAGOS: Nigeria´s environment ministry has ordered an investigation into a video showing an endangered manatee being dragged along a street after the images of the captured sea mammal sparked outrage from conservationists.

In the video posted to Twitter on Saturday, a group of young men can be seen dragging the writhing creature along on ropes down a dusty street.

It is not clear when the footage was filmed but the post is the first time the widely circulated video has been shared online. Nigeria´s deputy environment minister on Sunday condemned the capture of the manatee and called for officials to investigate and rescue it. "My attention has been drawn to a very distressing and distasteful video of a captured manatee... being dragged on bare ground to a cruel fate," Sharon Ikeazor wrote on Twitter."It is sad that manatees remain one of the most heavily hunted aquatic mammals," she said, adding that an awareness campaign was needed "to educate our people to protect the manatee".