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Now that the Miami Seaquarium is closed for good, the owner of the shuttered marine park has disclosed its plans for relocating its surviving animals.
The Mexico-based Dolphin Company, which recently sold its Virginia Key waterfront lease to local developer David Martin for $22.5 million, revealed in a new bankruptcy filing that it intends to relocate the animals to zoos, aquariums, and wildlife centers in states including Washington, Indiana, Virginia, and Kansas. The bankruptcy judge still has to approve the transfer of the assets — in other words, the animals.
Miami Seaquarium, which first opened in 1955, shut its doors last month after years of controversy and troubling reports of animal safety violations. Last year, Miami-Dade County terminated the facility’s lease on the publicly owned site, citing the “long and troubling history” of animal welfare violations and marine mammal deaths. A bankruptcy judge later approved a $22.5 million sale to Martin’s development firm, Terra Group, which plans to transform the 38-acre site into a waterfront dining village featuring a marine public baywalk and an aquarium (sans marine mammals). The Miami-Dade commission is set to vote on the lease transfer terms next month.
As the park’s owner prepared to relocate the animals following the marine park’s closure, animal rights activists and former Miami Seaquarium trainers urged the Dolphin Company to pause the relocation, assess the health of the surviving animals, and develop a plan to move them to sanctuaries or release them back into the ocean. Two bottlenose dolphins have died at the marine park in the last three months.
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‘We urge you to please evaluate all remaining animals for possible release, and for those who cannot be released to go to reputable sanctuaries where they can have some semblance of a natural life,” Tracy Reiman, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), wrote in an October 9 letter to the Dolphin Company. “Some of these captives were taken from their natural homes and may be able to be safely returned to them.”
According to the November 20 court filing, he Dolphin Company plans to send the surviving animals to the following locations:
Brookfield Zoo Chicago
The Dolphin Company wants to transfer ownership of a 22-year-old bottlenose dolphin named Noelani to the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois for $10,000. The filing notes that the female dolphin is already at the facility as part of a previous loan agreement
Nova Wild
The filing states that the Dolphin Company wants to transfer 27 American flamingos to the Nova Wild zoo in Reston, Virginia.
Tanganyika Wildlife Park
The Miami Seaquarium owner proposes sending 11 African penguins to the Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard, Kansas.
Seattle Aquarium
The Dolphin Company is looking to transfer a 12-year-old male harbor seal to the Seattle Aquarium.
Zoo Miami
The Dolphin Company hopes to send two Argentine black and white tegu, a bearded dragon, a blue-tongued skink (a non-venomous lizard), a ball python, and one uromastyx (a spiny-tailed lizard) to Miami-Dade’s Zoo Miami.
Dolphin Life
The Dolphin Company proposal includes transferring Zo, a 19-year-old male bottlenose dolphin; Aries, a 23-year-old male bottlenose dolphin; Ripley, a 32-year-old male bottlenose dolphin; and Onyx, a 26-year-old male bottlenose dolphin, to the dolphin rescue center, Dolphin Life, in Key Largo.
Dolphin Research Center
The Miami Seaquarium owner plans to transfer two dolphins, three harbor seals, and two sea lions to the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key in the Florida Keys. The dolphins are Samantha and JJ. The two sea lions are named Raleigh and Clyde, and the three seals are Baby, Ace, and Cane.
Sea Lion Splash
The Dolphin Company proposal also includes the transfer of three harbor seals and nine California sea lions to the traveling sea lion show Sea Lion Splash. Animal rights activists, including PETA, have called on local county fairs to cancel the sea lion shows, which occur three times a day.
Indianapolis Zoo
The Dolphin Company hopes to transfer four bottlenose dolphins, Cayman, Cobalt, Denise, and Gemini, to the Indianapolis Zoo.
