MIAMI – Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has advised management of the troubled Miami Seaquarium that the county is seeking to terminate its lease for the Virginia Key site.
The Seaquarium has been dogged lately by issues of, among other things, animal health, structural safety and failing to pay contractors.
Levine Cava’s letter to The Dolphin Company, which manages the Seaquarium, focuses primarily on animal welfare concerns and the county’s “frequent communication” with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over those concerns.
The agency, the mayor’s letter states, “has documented and brought to our attention multiple and repeated instances of animal welfare violations.”
“Despite these infractions, the Lessee has failed to promptly rectify these matters, culminating in the issuance of a Notice of Intent to Confiscate four animals by the USDA,” Levine Cava wrote in the letter, dated Sunday. “I’ve been informed that this confiscation is the first time in 30 years that the USDA has taken such a measure with marine mammals.”
The county has already issued the Seaquarium several notices of default.
Levine Cava said that move “underscores the gravity of the situation and cannot be taken lightly,” and the county, she said “will take all possible measures in coordination with the USDA to ensure the welfare of the animals at the Seaquarium.”
Read the full letter:
She said the county views the “repeated violations” as not only “a breach of the terms and conditions” of the Seaquarium’s lease agreement, “but, more critically, as a failure to uphold the requirement to maintain the animals in accordance with federal laws.”
“The welfare of these animals is paramount, and any compromise in their care is a direct contravention of our shared commitment to their well-being,” Levine Cava wrote.
Levine Cava and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, whose District 7 includes Virginia Key, issued a joint statement on the matter Monday afternoon.
“We are at a point where enough is enough,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner for District 7 Raquel Regalado. “Our priority is not keeping the Seaquarium open, our priority is ensuring that the animals are safe.”
Dr. Jenna Wallace, who was a veterinarian at the Seaquarium for six months back in 2021, told Local 10 News what she saw.
“It was awful,” she said. “The people were awful and the animals were not taken care of properly and the facilities were falling apart.”
In addition to restating the aforementioned animal welfare concerns, the two elected officials laid out next steps.
“In the meantime, we will continue to collaborate and coordinate closely with the USDA to chart the most appropriate course forward, always prioritizing the best interests of the animals residing at the Seaquarium,” the joint statement reads in part.
Local 10 News has contacted Seaquarium management seeking comment and had not yet received a response as of early Monday evening.