(From Bradenton Patch)
BRADENTON, FL — Just one day after announcing the accidental death of Snooty, the world’s oldest manatee, officials from the South Florida Museum have released more details about the creature’s last day. An official necropsy performed by the state has confirmed Snooty drowned at the age of 69, the museum announced Monday afternoon.
“Our own initial fact-finding shows that Snooty’s death was a tragic accident,” Jeff Rodgers, the museum’s provost and chief operating officer, said in a Monday statement. “We are heartbroken by Snooty’s death and no one wants to understand what happened more than we do.”
The museum explained that Snooty lived in a 60,000-gallon habitat that has a 4-foot ledge around a portion of it. The ledge was designed to provide Snooty a shallow water area. The manatee grew up in a shallow pool, so the ledge was created to make him more comfortable when he moved into the habitat back in 1993. At the bottom of the ledge, the museum said, is a 30-inch by 30-inch panel that is designed to let staff access plumbing.
“Passage into this underwater plumbing area is through an access panel – not a door – that is secured in all four corners at all times,” the museum’s statement said. “The panel has not been opened in the last five years and divers inspect it daily to confirm that it is secure.”
Staff members noted no sign of trouble with the panel during their inspection, the museum said. Even so, the panel “somehow became dislodged, allowing Snooty and the three rehabilitation manatees access to this narrow space under the ledge,” the statement said.
While the three smaller manatees, who all weigh in under 600 pounds, were able to turn around and swim out, Snooty “was just too large for that to happen.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission performed a necropsy, confirming that Snooty drowned, the statement said.
The panel has since been secured and divers have confirmed the space is safe for the rehab manatees – Baca, Gale and Randall, the museum said. The three rescue manatees have been sharing Snooty’s habitat for the past few months.
“We have cared for Snooty since he was 11 months old and his health and safety has always been of the utmost importance to all of us here,” Brynne Anne Besio, museum CEO, said on Monday. “We have also successfully rehabilitated 30 manatees and continue to watch closely over the three manatees currently in our care.”
The museum intends to reopen for normal hours on Tuesday, July 25. An “appropriate and fitting memorial to Snooty” is being planned. Details are not yet available.
Snooty turned 69 on Friday, July 21. He made Guinness World Records standing back in 2015, named the “world’s oldest-known manatee.”
The celebrity sea cow had aptly called Manatee County home since 1949 when “Baby Snoots,” as he was called at the time, arrived in Bradenton. He was a Miami native, however, born at the Miami Aquarium on July 21, 1948. Snooty became Manatee County’s official mascot in 1979.
I only got to meet Snooty once and only within the last month. I am sad to hear he died.
