Post-Snooty, leadership must change at South Florida Museum

Snooty’s memorial is over, but the manner of his death has driven a wedge into this community that is not going away.

After Snooty drowned, museum CEO Brynne Anne Besio and COO Jeff Rodgers assured everyone that the panel that fell off allowing Snooty to become trapped and drown was checked every day, until they had to admit otherwise, saying it was just a simple miscommunication.

In fact, Snooty died from lack of simple routine maintenance. Snooty paid the ultimate price for this negligence, but the entire community has suffered. I am not aware that either of them have admitted their part in the negligence that led to Snooty’s death or apologized. Snooty should have been safe in his tank and it was the responsibility of management to ensure he was. They need to be gone.

The best possible solution would be for them to have the grace to resign, knowing it would give the museum a clean slate for its post-Snooty life. The board of directors could give them wonderful recommendations to work at a museum that only has stars on the ceiling, artifacts, fossilized dinosaur poop and Smithsonian photos – but no live animals.

Although I admit to being angry over the way Snooty died, my opinion is not based on anger or retribution towards these individuals. It is the knowledge that the museum deserves a new start, memories of Snooty, but without the specter of his horrible death hovering over its leadership. The museum needs new leadership and the support of the entire community to thrive going forward.

I am not a member of any animal rights group and never have been. I eat meat, I worked for a company that had performing animals, and I believe some species survival depends on captivity.

This story was originally published October 7, 2017 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Post-Snooty, leadership must change at South Florida Museum."