Feds Asked to Pull the Plug on SeaQuest in Fort Lauderdale
PETA Says That History of Breaking the Law Is Ample Cause to Terminate Aquarium’s License
For Immediate Release:
September 26, 2019
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
This morning, PETA filed a request urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to terminate the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) exhibitor license held by SeaQuest—or, at the very least, to refuse to approve the addition of the aquarium and petting zoo’s proposed new locations in Fort Lauderdale and elsewhere.
In the letter, PETA points out that the USDA may terminate an AWA license and refuse to add additional sites to an existing license if the licensee has been found to have violated any federal, state, or local laws pertaining to cruelty, transportation, ownership, neglect, or welfare of animals—and that SeaQuest has repeatedly violated these laws. This year alone, a SeaQuest manager in Colorado was charged with cruelty to animals after a sloth sustained serious burns to his face from a heat lamp, Colorado officials suspended the Littleton location’s state permit after a series of state law and permit violations, and SeaQuest’s Las Vegas aquarium was cited and fined $2,000 for illegally possessing four baby otters.
“In just a few years, SeaQuest’s rap sheet has grown to include a manager on trial for cruelty to animals and various violations of both local and state laws,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “PETA is calling on the USDA to yank this cruel petting zoo’s license.”
A pending lawsuit filed by PETA, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, and local activist Ana Campos alleges that the city of Fort Lauderdale unlawfully issued SeaQuest a development permit to open up shop in The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale mall under the false pretense of being a “museum” rather than an aquarium (which isn’t allowed under city zoning laws).
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
