BRADENTON, Fla. – A Florida museum where a 69-year-old manatee got trapped in a maintenance tube and drowned has reopened to the public.
According to a Bradenton Herald report , a small crowd of people brought cards and sweet potatoes to the South Florida Museum on Tuesday for a memorial to the manatee named Snooty.
Officials have said the 1,000-pound (450-kilogram) marine mammal somehow got into the 30-by-30 inch (75-by-75 centimeter) tube Sunday but was not able to turn around. Manatees can stay underwater for 20 minutes but they cannot swim backward.
The death remains under investigation. Museum spokeswoman Jessica Schubick said security cameras were operating in the manatee habitat, but the tank is kept dark at night. Officials have said the panel covering the tube was last opened five years ago.
Snooty was the longest-living manatee in captivity.