PETA Statement re SeaQuest Name Change

For Immediate Release:
October 15, 2024

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

As SeaQuest locations around the country continue to rack up violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and new reports of animal deaths and customer injuries roll in, SeaQuest Lynchburg is apparently attempting to distance itself from the company’s failures by changing its name to the Hill City AquaZoo—but the animals currently held at the seedy location will continue to be exploited there. Below, please find a statement from PETA Foundation Associate Director of Legal and Regulatory Advocacy Molly Johnson:

A mall aquarium by any other name still stinks, especially for the animals trapped in cramped and filthy enclosures, deprived of food, injured, and killed at SeaQuest locations around the country. Animals are denied any semblance of a natural life and forced into dangerous and frightening public encounters at these shoddy facilities, and PETA urges everyone to stay far away from all of them—regardless of what name is painted over the door.

PETA’s ongoing campaign against SeaQuest has included numerous complaints filed with federal and state authorities regarding injuries to customers and egregious animal welfare issues, including animals who drowned, were burned, or were stomped or crushed to death by customers, among other horrors. The group will continue to monitor the “Hill City AquaZoo” and shine a light on the animal suffering there until it and every other mall aquarium has been shut down.

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.