After almost 70 years at the same location, Miami Seaquarium gets eviction notice
It’s the end of an era for the iconic and problem-plagued Miami Seaquarium. Following public protests and a long laundry list of health and safety violations, officials in Miami-Dade County have terminated the lease of the 38-acre oceanarium located on the island of Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay, Florida, situated in close proximity to downtown Miami. Officials announced the Seaquarium’ s eviction yesterday at a press conference after sending the evictionletter to The Dolphin Company who owns the facility.
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CBS News shared the following:
- “They have been subject of continuous violations including decaying animal habitats, lack of veterinary staff, and lack of other experienced staff members,” said Mayor Levine Cava.
- “The current state of the Miami Seaquarium is not the place that we visited as children and it’s not the place that we want our children to visit,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado.
- The county says the Seaquarium is facing multiple building code violations — and that the welfare of the animals is in jeopardy.
- A 2023 USDA report made multiple disturbing discoveries, like a two-inch nail found in a dolphin’s neck.
The eviction notice itemized the disrepair of the Seaquarium’s facilities and cited staffing problems and endangered animals as revealed in the report from the U.S. Agriculture Department. The eviction notice states that The Dolphin Company has to be moved out of the property by April 21, according to NBC News.
“For example, between July 6, 2022, and January 9, 2024, Lessee has been cited by the USDA seven times for failing to adequately maintain facilities, seven times related to inadequate veterinary care, two times for inadequate handling of animals (in one instance resulting in a patron being bitten during a dolphin encounter), three times for failure to maintain outdoor facilities, three times for failing to have adequate staff, two times for failure to maintain indoor facilities, and three times for inadequate water quality,” according to the eviction notice.
Following several highly publicized issues concerning problems with the animals housed at the Seaquarium, animal activists have been vigorously fighting to have the facility shuttered. In August of this year, the beloved resident Orca, Lolita, died while held at the facility.
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The Associated Press shared the following:
- A report in January by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service found troubling conditions at the Seaquarium during an inspection Oct. 16. The report noted that a dolphin named Ripley was found with a 2-inch nail, mangrove pods and small pieces of shell in his throat, NBC South Florida reported.
- Another dolphin, Bimini, was found with a broken bolt in her mouth.
- Weeks before the inspection, it had been discovered that an adult female California sea lion named Sushi had been holding her right eye closed and rubbing both eyes because she needed cataract surgery, the report said.
Eduardo Albor, CEO of The Dolphin Company, was at the press conference yesterday and said that he plans to let his lawyers respond to the eviction notice. Founded in 1955, the Miami Seaquarium is one of the oldest oceanariums in the U.S.
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(Cover photo of Lolita at Miami Seaquarium, Image credit: Twitter)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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