Whistleblower Reports That Animals Died in Droves at East Idaho Aquarium

Death and despair run rampant at East Idaho Aquarium. According to a whistleblower, workers denied baby birds lifesaving care there. The insider also revealed that aquarium staff forced adult birds into dangerous and deadly hands-on encounters with customers.

PETA encourages everyone to steer clear of this hellhole as if lives depended on it—because they do.

Whistleblower Details Multiple Apparent Violations of the Federal Animal Welfare Act at East Idaho Aquarium

These apparent violations included failing to provide food, shelter, and adequate veterinary care to baby parakeets who reportedly fell out of their nesting boxes due to competition for nests with adult cockatiels housed in the same aviary.

Other allegations include the following:

• Parakeets and cockatiels were reportedly fed only when visitors paid to feed them so that they would be hungry and motivated to eat from customers’ hands during encounters.
• The whistleblower reported that the facility ignored its attending veterinarian’s recommendation that newly acquired birds be tested for psittacosis, an infectious disease that can be transmitted to other birds and humans.
• An employee allegedly hit a female aracari (a kind of toucan) with a vacuum hose and bragged about it to the whistleblower and other employees. Management allegedly defended the employee when the incident was reported to them.

The whistleblower alleged that humans had killed nearly 200 animals at the aquarium in just three months. They also told PETA that a current employee had reported that the facility put young chicks who had fallen out of their nesting boxes into a freezer to die.

The whistleblower’s allegations are consistent with public records obtained by PETA from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, which show that more than 2,000 animals died at East Idaho Aquarium from June 2019 through September 2022. The records reveal that dozens of these animals were birds whom humans stepped on, sat on, or otherwise crushed to death during hands-on encounters.

PETA Urges Federal Authorities to Investigate East Idaho Aquarium

On September 17, PETA sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, urging it to investigate East Idaho Aquarium and to hold the facility accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Never Visit East Idaho Aquarium or Any Other Roadside Zoo That Exploits Animals

In the U.S., many unaccredited zoos, aquariums, and roadside menageries have long histories of harming animals or otherwise violating the federal Animal Welfare Act.

SeaQuest Aquariums, a chain of shopping mall petting zoos, has an alarming history that includes hundreds of animal deaths, legal violations, injuries to the public, and allegations of serious animal neglect. Please urge it to stop exploiting animals: