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Sarasota News Leader July 26, 2013 Page 56 DROUIN TAKES THIRD-PLACE HONORS IN STATEWIDE CONTEST Roger Drouin, county editor of The Sarasota News Leader, has won a third-place award in the 2012 Better Weekly Newspaper contest sponsored by the Florida Press Association. Drouin was honored for his reporting on the efforts to restore Sarasota County's Red Bug Slough. An update on that project appears in the News Leader this week. The winning article appeared last year in both the Sarasota Observer and the Pelican Press. It was honored in the Agricultural & Environmental reporting category. Staff Reports Roger Drouin. Contributed photo THOUSANDS TURN OUT TO CELEBRATE SNOOTY'S BIRTHDAY The South Florida Museum in Bradenton recorded 2,300 paid admissions inside the museum on July 20 for the 65th birthday celebration of its resident celebrity manatee, Snooty. exists, according to a fact sheet the museum provided to visitors. He was brought to Bradenton as part of the 1949 DeSoto Celebration. Since then, the fact sheet says, he has greeted more than 2 million visitors. Jessica Schubick, the museum's communications manager, said staff conservatively esti- At 9 feet 8 inches in length, Snooty weighs mated about 6,000 people participated in the about 1,020 pounds, the sheet adds. His girth festival. "Big turnout this year!" she added in is 89 inches. an email to The Sarasota News Leader. An herbivore, he consumes about 70 pounds "Snooty™ is an extra-special manatee who of food each day — mostly romaine lettuce, sets records every day for how long we know though he also eats carrots, kale, cabbage, manatees can live," a museum news release collards, bok choy, broccoli and apples. He added. gets vitamin supplements, too. Children's games and activities, entertainment and wildlife awareness opportunities were among the other events held Saturday — along with Snooty's numerous appearances on the surface of his pool, so he could accept green leafy birthday treats. Snooty was born on July 21, 1948 at the Miami Aquarium and Tackle Co., which no longer Brynne Anne Besio, executive director of the South Florida Museum, says in a news release that Snooty "provides valuable insight into the health and life cycle of all manatees. Researchers are able to work with Snooty in a hands-on manner that is not permissible for the wild, endangered manatee population." Staff Reports