Feds Cite Local SeaQuest for Filthy, Dangerous Conditions and Failure to Provide Adequate Vet Care
For Immediate Release:
September 18, 2024
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
PETA has just received a newly released inspection report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealing that SeaQuest Roseville kept animals in hazardous enclosures, failed to clean accumulated mouse feces, allowed flies to swarm around animals’ food, and let animals go months without regular visits from a veterinarian. The report details six new citations for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act—including three repeat violations—at SeaQuest Roseville and notes that the last time an attending veterinarian set foot inside the facility was in April.
According to the August 5 report, SeaQuest failed to schedule any future visit from its listed “attending veterinarian.” One of the pigs at the facility had hooves so overgrown that they had begun to curve outward, forcing the animal’s toes into an abnormal position that would make walking difficult. Federal inspectors also found exposed metal wires, screws, and sharp splinters of wood in birds’ enclosures and an unprotected electrical cord in a Bengal cat enclosure that was within the animals’ reach. Other repeat violations include failing to provide animals with basic enrichment necessary to their psychological well-being and failing to adequately clean the facility.
“Filth, misery, and deprivation are business as usual for SeaQuest, which somehow continues to find new ways to neglect and endanger the vulnerable animals it exploits,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Michelle Sinnott. “PETA urges everyone to stay away from SeaQuest’s seedy facilities, where suffering is the only thing that thrives.”
Last year, the USDA cited SeaQuest Roseville for failing to adequately clean enclosures housing otters, sloths, African crested porcupines, and pigs, all of which had buildups of “organic material” and grime on the walls. The chain’s other locations are no better. Hundreds of animals have died at SeaQuest facilities or in transit—including nearly 100 who died in just five years at a single location in New Jersey—and the USDA has issued numerous citations for inadequate animal care, improper maintenance, and injuries to members of the public.
Following pressure from PETA and a slew of egregious animal welfare issues and customer injuries, SeaQuest closed its location in Littleton, Colorado, earlier this year and its facilities in Trumbull, Connecticut, and Stonecrest, Georgia, in 2023.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
