Where will the bankrupt Miami Seaquarium send its dolphins? Now we have an answer

Moving the Miami Seaquarium menagerie will involve some far-off relocations, while some of the captive animals still living in the closed theme park will remain close to home.

The Seaquarium’s bankrupt owner plans to send some dolphins to the Indianapolis Zoo, while other dolphins will take a short drive to the Florida Keys to live in marine-mammal centers there, according to recently filed court papers.

Zoo Miami plans to take multiple Seaquarium reptiles, including a bearded dragon, a python and two black-and-white tegus. Eleven African penguins are slated for new homes in Kansas, and more than two dozen pink flamingos will be sent to a zoo in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Relocating the Seaquarium animals is the last big step before the waterfront property, owned by Miami-Dade County, shifts to its next planned chapter as a development site.

Miami developer David Martin made relocation of all animals a condition of his $22.5 million offer to purchase the existing county lease from the Mexico-based owner, the Dolphin Company, which filed for bankruptcy in March.

Martin plans to transform the 38-acre Seaquarium property into a $100 million marina and entertainment destination, with restaurants, shops, event space and a public baywalk around the waterfront on Biscayne Bay. He also plans a new aquarium there, the main relic of the property’s decades-long history as a marine theme park.

County commissioners have scheduled a Dec. 2 vote on the framework of the deal with Martin and his development firm, Terra. The agreement includes a 99-year lease and a requirement that Martin pay Miami-Dade up to 5% of the property’s revenue — a rent amount expected to top $3 million when the new Seaquarium complex reopens in 2030.

The Seaquarium closed Oct. 12 ahead of Martin’s expected takeover sometime in early 2026. News of the park’s demise after 70 years on Miami’s Virginia Key left a major question: What would happen to the animals there?

Dolphin Company documents filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware last week, and first reported by Bloomberg News, offer the first specific answers. The company is asking for a judge’s approval to transfer the animals, which are considered financial assets and subject to the court’s control.

Proposed transfers in the court filings include:

• One bottlenosed dolphin to the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago. The Seaquarium has already moved the dolphin to the zoo, and the transaction includes a price for the animal of $10,000. 
• The NOVA Wild zoo in Reston, Virginia, has agreed to pick up and transport back 27 American flamingos donated to the nonprofit from the Seaquarium. 
• A zoo outside Wichita, Kansas, the Tanganyika Wildlife Park, agreed to take 11 African penguins. This will also be a donation, with Tanganyika paying for shipment costs. 
• Nine sea lions and three harbor seals are set to go to Sea Lion Splash, a traveling animal show based in Manatee County.
• Two swim-with-the-dolphins attractions in the Keys are taking some Seaquarium dolphins. Dolphin Life, a nonprofit in Key Largo, will take four Seaquarium dolphins that carry the names Ariel, Onyx, Ripley and Zo. The court papers describe the transfer as a donation of the dolphins. The Dolphin Research Center, a nonprofit in Marathon, plans to take two dolphins (JJ and Samantha), as well as two sea lions and three harbor seals. The transfers are also listed as donations in court papers.
• Zoo Miami in South Miami-Dade, also owned by the county, is taking multiple exotic reptiles from the Seaquarium, including a uromastyx, ball python, blue-tongued skink and a bearded dragon. Ron Magill, a zoo spokesperson, said the Seaquarium is donating the animals to the zoo.
• The farthest relocation appears to be a Seaquarium seal heading to the Seattle Aquarium.

This story was originally published November 24, 2025 at 4:37 PM.