Seaquarium lease is up for county vote — but dolphin deaths, rotting fish not on agenda
A proposal to transfer the Miami Seaquarium lease to a new owner glosses over a recent federal inspection report detailing multiple infractions that threatened the welfare of the animals, according to an item up for a vote at a Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday. The critical citations included rotting fish that made dolphins sick and practices like forcing Lolita, the 56-year-old orca, to perform head-in jumps with an injured jaw.
Commissioners are scheduled to vote on a plan to allow a new operator, Cancun-based The Dolphin Company, to take over the Seaquarium. The proposed resolution cites assurances by park managers that there are only minor problems to correct regarding animal care, contradicting a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The park brings in $2.5 million a year for the county, which owns the land along the Rickenbacker Causeway where the Seaquarium has been since 1954.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is recommending that county commissioners approve a proposal to allow Festival Fun Parks, a subsidiary of Madrid-based Parques Reunidos, to sell the lease at the meeting on Tuesday.
In the proposed resolution prepared by the Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department, the county says that Festival Fun Parks “has recently been issued a report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) citing 21 non-significant infractions.” The county said infractions must be fixed before the lease can be transferred.
None of the serious violations described in a 17-page inspection report by the USDA last month were detailed in the proposal that commissioners are expected to vote on.
The USDA report, produced after a three-day inspection in June, detailed three critical infractions and two violations that directly affected the health of dolphins, sea lions, Lolita and other animals that live at the marine park on Virginia Key, among other citations. Only three citations were described as non-critical. The report was released late last month.
Records show that federal concerns about Seaquarium operations in recent years were first raised last year by a NOAA scientist who was alarmed at an atypical string of deaths between March 2019 and April 2020. During that time span, five bottlenose dolphins and a baby California sea lion died — a high number for a park with just 25 dolphins before the deaths occurred. She flagged that to the USDA, according to federal records obtained by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. NOAA manages the National Inventory of Marine Mammals, a database of animals that are kept in captivity in the U.S.
Rotting fish
Among the critical violations found by the USDA were the practice of feeding rotting fish to Lolita, dolphins and sea lions; not having a system for separating animal, and managing the movements of the park’s 58 captive marine mammals between pools, leading to serious injuries and deaths over the past few years; infrastructure issues like dilapidated tanks with underwater fencing held together with plastic zip ties.
The report detailed how flimsy fencing separating pools and groups of dolphins allowed two young and large dolphins, Cobalt and Zo, to break into a pool with Bimini, a smaller 21-year-old female that was sick. Bimini was seriously injured with four broken ribs after suspected hits by the two dolphins, the report said.
The USDA report also described serious water quality issues like poor circulation and a lack of proper filtration and chlorine treatment, which left pools full of bacteria and parasites that led to eye and skin lesions on dolphins, sea lions and manatees.
The county said in an emailed response to questions that it’s “committed to strengthening accountability, oversight, and scrutiny of the Seaquarium as part of the transition of the lease to The Dolphin Company. All needed infrastructure upgrades, repairs, and USDA inspection report notes must be addressed prior to the lease transfer, and moving forward we will be increasing the frequency of inspections and conducting unannounced inspections of the property.”
The county said that The Dolphin Company has agreed to seek certification by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, considered the golden standard in the industry, and to future lease amendments that will strengthen infrastructure maintenance, animal welfare and management. It also said it has reviewed “a comprehensive health and welfare management plan to ensure the highest standards of animal welfare are being met,” but did not make the plan available.
‘Outrage’
According to the county, its relationship with the Seaquarium “ensures that we are able to require additional accountability and provide greater scrutiny of the facility as part of the terms of the lease, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all the animals in the Seaquarium’s care.”
Levine Cava said in an emailed statement: “I join residents across our community in my outrage at the findings of the recent USDA report. Transitioning the Seaquarium lease to new management — The Dolphin Company — presents a critical opportunity for the County to step up accountability, oversight, and scrutiny of the facility and that’s exactly what we are doing. We’ll be working alongside them every step of the way to ensure all benchmarks are met and that The Dolphin Company delivers on our shared commitment to protecting the health and wellbeing of all animals in their care.”
In an e-mailed statement, The Dolphin Company said: “Should The Dolphin Company be presented the opportunity to welcome the Miami Seaquarium to our family of parks, we will take careful attention to every aspect of the facility and operation, administering the highest level of care for the animals and for the staff.”
Animal welfare activists say the Seaquarium lease is not a good deal for Miami-Dade because of the facility’s history of “failing to ensure the protection and welfare of the animals,” resulting in violations of federal animal welfare laws, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“Assignment of the lease to The Dolphin Company to continue to maintain this same inherently cruel and outdated facility is contrary to the best interests of the County,” PETA said.
PETA and the Dolphin Project are calling on the county to retire Lolita, end the dolphin shows and demand better conditions for the animals at Miami’s aging marine park by requiring full compliance with the Animal Welfare Act.
Advocates say the transfer of the lease is an opportunity for the county to demand improvements at the Seaquarium and ensure that Miami-Dade isn’t making money from a facility that could potentially be committing animal cruelty crimes.
“The abusive conditions at Seaquarium are a blight to the County, which could also undoubtedly receive greater compensation for the large prime real estate on which it sits than the approximately$2.5 million annually it received from Seaquarium’s lease before the pandemic,” Jared Goodman, PETA Foundation’s vice president and deputy general counsel, wrote in a letter to the Board of County Commissioners. “Because assignment of the lease is contrary to the County’s best interests, the Board should reject it.”
To follow the Seaquarium issue
What: County Commission meeting
When: 9:30 a.m. Tuesday
Where: 111 NW First St., downtown Miami
To watch online: https://www.miamidade.gov/global/webcasting/home.page
This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 11:10 AM.
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