Bradenton's South Florida Museum will be closed Monday after this weekend's announcement of the death of Snooty the Manatee

The Museum is normally closed on Mondays. An investigation into the manatee's death will continue today as employees and staff grieve. 

The death of the world's oldest manatee caught many people in the community and around the world off guard. 

According to museum officials, Snooty was born on July 21, 1948, at the Miami Aquarium and Tackle Company -- the first recorded birth of a manatee in human care. 

He moved to Bradenton in 1949.  "Baby Snoots,"  as he was then known, was brought to Bradenton as part of the 1949 Desoto Celebration and later that year he moved permanently to the South Florida Museum's care. In 1979, he became Manatee County's official mascot.

During his lifetime, he greeted up to two million visitors at the Museum and on the Snooty Cam and we are honored to have had him with us for so long. 

"A quick assessment showed that an underwater hatch that's used to access plumbing that's associated with our life support system had somehow been knocked loose and was opened," said Jeff Rodgers, Provost and Chief Operating Officer of the South Florida Museum. "The manatees had access to get into this tight area.

"The young manatees were able to get in and out of that, but it appears that Snooty was able to get into the area, but he was not able to extract himself from that situation." 

Snooty's remains are at a facility in St. Petersburg where a necropsy is being performed to determine to official cause of death. There is no word on when those results will be made available. 

"Snooty formed the foundation for our rehab program for the manatees," said Museum Board of Trustees Vice President John Quinlin. "His legacy will continue on in that program as we go forward."

In the meantime, the museum is making plans to honor Snooty's legacy.