Snooty Statue Petition Drive Bucks For Change

BRADENTON, FL — News of Snooty the manatee’s Sunday death, just two days after his 69th birthday, sent shockwaves across Florida. While some shed tears and others shared condolences on social media channels, one Sarasota resident launched a petition drive in the beloved manatee's honor.

Anthony Pusateri would like to see the city of Bradenton honor Manatee County’s iconic mascot by replacing the Confederate memorial outside the old courthouse with a monument to Snooty, the world-record-breaking manatee. The courthouse, Pusateri points out in his petition drive on Change.org, is only a few blocks away from the South Florida Museum's aquarium Snooty called home for decades.

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“To honor Snooty's legacy as a positive icon in Bradenton, I propose that the negative symbol of racism and oppression that is the Confederate monument be relocated and replaced with a statue of Snooty the Manatee,” Pusateri wrote in his Change.org petition. “By doing so, the Confederate monument could possibly be moved to a museum (or other more appropriate location) out of everyday public eye and a more positive symbol then take its place.”

See also: Snooty, World’s Oldest Manatee, Dead At 69

The petition drive has a goal of 1,500 signatures. Launched shortly after news of Snooty’s death broke, the drive had more than 1,190 supporters as of late Monday morning.

Once the 1,500 signatures are collected, Pusateri said he intends to deliver it to Bradeton Mayor Wayne Poston, the Manatee County Commission and the Bradenton City Council. The city has yet to address the topic, a spokesman told Patch Monday morning.

Snooty’s death was announced by the South Florida Museum on Sunday, one day after a party was staged in honor of his 69th birthday. The death is being called accidental by museum officials, who say Snooty became trapped in a plumbing access area in his habitat.

“The South Florida Museum is deeply saddened to share the news that our beloved Snooty has died,” the museum posted on Facebook Sunday afternoon, breaking the news to the sea cow's fans from across the globe.

While Snooty's death remains under investigation, the museum reported Sunday that he was found in an underwater area that is used to access plumbing for the exhibit he was housed in. The early indication is that an "access panel door that is normally bolted shut had somehow been knocked loose and that Snooty was able to swim in," the museum reported in a Sunday email.

"Our initial investigation indicates that Snooty's death was a heartbreaking accident and we're all quite devastated about his passing," Brynne Anne Besio, the museum's CEO, said in a Sunday statement. "We're reviewing what happened and will be conducting a full investigation into the circumstances.”

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.

To find out more about Pusateri’s petition, visit Change.org online.

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Photo courtesy of the South Florida Museum