Florida resident Anthony Pusateri thinks the mayor of Bradenton should replace the city’s 93-year-old Confederate monument with a statue of Snooty, a beloved local manatee who died in a freak accident earlier this week.

“Snooty the manatee has been a symbol of Bradenton, FL for almost 70 years. He suddenly passed away on July 23rd 2017 and was the oldest living manatee on record in the world,” Pusateri wrote in a Change.org petition to “Replace Confederate monument with statue of Snooty the Manatee.”

“Subsequently, there is a Confederate memorial statue that stands directly in front of the old courthouse just blocks away from the aquarium where Snooty resided,” the petition continues. “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.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the petition to the Manatee County Commission had received nearly 7,800 signatures of support.

Snooty fans from across the state have left heads of lettuce and other tributes to the fallen sea cow at the South Florida Museum after his untimely death at the age of 69 on Sunday.

Museum officials told CNN Snooty’s debut at the Miami Aquarium in 1948 marked the first recorded birth of a manatee in human care, and he was officially listed in the Guinness World Records as the oldest manatee in captivity.

He came to the Bradenton aquarium in 1949 and has lived there ever since, becoming the county’s official mascot in 1979.

His handlers found him dead when they checked his enclosure on Sunday in what appeared to be a tragic accident.

“Snooty was found in an underwater area only used to access plumbing for the exhibit life support system,” according to a museum statement. “Early indications are that a panel that is kept bolted shut had somehow been dislodged and that Snooty was able to swim in.”

Museum CEO Anne Besio said “Snooty’s death was a heartbreaking accident and we’re all devastated about his passing.”


Museum COO Jeff Rodgers told the media three other manatees that share Snooty’s enclosure also entered the service area but managed to turn around and swim out. Snooty, who weighed roughly twice as much as the other manatees at about 1,300 pounds, didn’t make it.

“Snooty’s very important to this community. He’s been with us for 68 years. Generations have grown up with that manatee. The emotional outpourings that we’ve heard today, we grieve right along with these folks,” Rodgers said. “A lot of people loved that manatee, we loved him too.”

The granite obelisk currently on display in front of the Manatee County Courthouse was dedicated by the Judah P. Benjamin Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1924. The Confederate memorial commemorates Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and the “Memory of Our Confederate Soldiers,” according to the Florida Public Archaeology Network.

Pusateri and his supporters believe the longstanding Confederate monument should be “moved to a museum (or other more appropriate location) out of everyday public eye and a more positive symbol take its place.”

So far, Mayor Wayne Poston hasn’t weighed it, though a city spokesman told the Miami New Times any decision would likely rest with the Manatee Clerk of Courts.

“Mayor [Wayne] Poston is out of town until tomorrow, but I can tell you in his absence that there has been no discussion to date about the petition,” said Tim McCann, the city spokesman. “I saw it mentioned on social media yesterday, but nothing has made its way to city hall. Furthermore, I don’t believe the mayor would have the final say about what’s on the courthouse grounds. That will be a decision of the Manatee Clerk of Courts.”

Regardless, there seems to be a lot of support for the move online, where the petition is gaining traction on Twitter and other social media sites.

“Snooty did 100,000,000x more for this community than the Confederacy,” local Caitlin Burns posted in the petition comments.

“Snooty would have wanted it this way,” Tim Moone added.

Many also took the opportunity to take shots at the Confederacy, of course.

“Confederates are a disgrace to the United States!” Aaron Scott posted.

“Preserve the memory of Snooty, and let’s retire that Confederate memorial to the landfill,” Thorpe Shuttleworth wrote.