Miami Seaquarium ordered to leave property next month by mayor
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Miami Seaquarium was ordered to leave the property in April after they received a letter from Miami-Dade County terminating their lease.
According to the Miami-Dade Mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, the aquarium had “continuous violations of their contractual obligations.”
On Thursday, Cava sent a “Notice of Termination of Lease” letter to Eduardo Albor, the president of the park operation, The Dolphin Company, according to NBC affiliate WTVJ.
“The current state of Miami Seaquarium is unsustainable and unsafe,” Cava said in a press conference on Thursday.
The mayor said the county believes terminating the lease is the best option for the safety of the animals and visitors. However, the aquarium, nearing a 70-year run, could fight the eviction if the judge says the park complies with the lease.
Part of the letter obtained by WTVJ read, “Lessee’s long and troubling history of violations constitute repeated, continuous and longstanding violations of Lessee’s contractual obligations to keep the Property in a good state of repair, maintain animals in accordance with applicable law, and comply with all laws.”
WTVJ said the aquarium has until March 11 to accept the lease termination.
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The lease termination comes after several animals were found injured.
“The current state of the Miami Seaquarium is not the place that we visited as children and it’s not the place that we want our children to visit,” Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalo said.
In a report obtained by WTVJ, a dolphin named “Ripley” was found with a two-inch nail and a piece of a shell in his throat. Another dolphin named “Bimini” had a broken bolt in her mouth.
Another report showed a sea lion named “Sushi” had her right eye closed and needed cataract surgery. The animal later began refusing food, and the aquarium had yet to schedule a surgery date for the sea lion.
Back in November, the Miami Seaquarium responded to animal welfare allegations after a USDA report “found dolphin pools in disrepair, high counts of bacteria in the water where marine mammals are kept, and numerous areas of black mold growth along with bubbling paint within the penguin enclosure,” WTVJ said.
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