Credit: Isabelle Puaut, FlickrThe saga around the closure of the Miami Seaquarium continues, with a judge dismissing the controversial Florida theme park’s immediate eviction.
After years of scathing USDA inspection reports repeatedly citing the park for neglecting animal care, Miami Seaquarium faced official eviction by Miami-Dade County in 2023.
The county and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced that the park had breached its lease, citing shocking reports of animal neglect, including an Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin found with a two-inch nail in its throat, bacteria-infested waters, and just one veterinarian responsible for the entire park’s animals.
Despite an April 21 deadline to vacate, Miami Seaquarium remains open to this day. Its owner, The Dolphin Company, filed a lawsuit, claiming that Miami-Dade County violated the lease by attempting to evict them in the first place.
Now a Miami-Dade County judge has ruled that the park cannot be immediately evicted.
Focusing on the park’s unpaid rent, not the claims surrounding animal welfare, the judge said that the park won’t be removed from its Virginia Key site right now. This is despite its missed or late rent payments, one of which the park’s attorney, Jeffrey Roth, attributed to a bank holiday in Mexico where The Dolphin Company is based.
“You should know Monday, September 16th was a bank holiday in Mexico,” Roth said (via CBS News). “That was the major reason for the fund hitting my trust account. I know that sounds like the dog ate my homework.”
However, the county dismissed this explanation. “In that footnote, they admit, we know when it was due. We know the amount that was due. And we paid it late. Whether it’s 12 hours or the next day. Late is late,” said Melanie Spencer, the county’s attorney.
Meanwhile, Miami Seaquarium’s legal team argued that the county had also obstructed the company’s operations. “The county has somewhat sabotaged MS Leisure from performing its duties for the Miami Seaquarium,” said Hilton Napoleon II, another of its attorneys.
“Too many things they have done. They have refused to issue us any permits whatsoever so we can actually fix the buildings that we need to fix.”
The park’s Executive Director, Edwin Gonzalez, also defended its reputation for animal welfare, claiming that it has remedied many of its prior issues. “We’ve had two consecutive USDA audits,” he said. “Perfect audits. Which means nothing was wrong. The USDA just sent us the renewal of our license.”
Amid the drama, Miami Seaquarium – which has previously relocated some of its animals to other marine parks, such as SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Antonio – has reduced its operations, currently only opening from Wednesday to Sunday.
While the park is home to a wide range of captive animals, it was most famously once home to the orca whale Lolita (AKA Tokitae), who died in her tank last summer, just months after the park pledged to free her back into her native waters of the Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest. Some of her former trainers accused the park of being complicit in her death.
The two parties will meet again for mediation on October 21. Stay tuned for further updates.