The Miami Miami Seaquarium has to pack its bags after years of troubling reports. Photo: Miami Seaquarium
The Miami Seaquarium has been evicted from the waterfront property it has resided on for years. The reason, if you’re aware of the tourist attraction’s past, won’t shock you.
“Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava cited a ‘long and troubling history of violations’ in a lease termination notice sent Thursday to the chief executive officer of The Dolphin Company, which owns the Seaquarium,” AP News reported.
The company was required to be off the property by April 21. “They have been the subject of continuous violations,” Cava said during a news conference Thursday, “including decaying animal habitats, lack of veterinary staff and a lack of other experienced staff. Our number one priority continues to be the safety and wellbeing of the animals.”
Most recently, Lolita the orca died at The Miami Seaquarium. Tragically, her death came shortly after a plan to release her was announced.
Lolita spent nearly 50 years living in a tiny tank after she was captured at the age of four from a cove near Seattle, Washington. She was taken to the Miami Seaquarium to live a life devoted to our entertainment. It’s a sad story which can be read mostly in full here.
“Lolita was a Southern resident killer whale. Orcas are highly intelligent and very social, so cramming her — or any other orca, for that matter — into a tiny tank with only a few partners over the years to stave off the boredom, is exceptionally cruel,” we wrote after her death. “Before she was taken, her family was known as the ‘L Pod,’ which spends most of its time in and around Penn Cove, in Puget Sound, Washington. The Miami Seaquarium bought her life for around $20,000.”
According to reports, officials from the Seaquarium invited Cava to visit the facility to inspect the animals herself. The invite came after the county told “the park in January that they were looking to terminate the park’s lease following a review from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates the treatment and care of captive animals.”
While there are still aquariums around the world, in recent years the public appears to be waking up to the reality of how cruel these institutions can be, even though they’re often represented as research facilities.
