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January 5, 2024
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Miami – PETA has obtained a just-published U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA) inspection report revealing that situations are a lot the identical for animals (i.e., completely horrible) on the doomed Miami Seaquarium, which, regardless of lip service on the contrary, has clearly failed to wash up its act—as revealed by the 13 new federal animal welfare citations detailed within the report that present proof of sick animals left to endure with out enough veterinary care, penguins and dolphins held in enclosures in states of harmful disrepair, and parrots who engaged in extreme stress-induced conduct.
A crowded manatee tank on the Seaquarium. Credit score: PETA
The citations resulted from violations together with failing to supply enough look after a number of dolphins who confirmed indicators of gastric misery and a manatee named Readability, who was lined in a “thick layer” of algae, giant lesions, and patchy white discolorations. In a letter despatched at the moment, PETA is now upping its name for Miami-Dade County officers to right away terminate the Seaquarium’s lease, noting that doing so is permitted by the lease’s provisions within the occasion of unresolved violations.
The feds additionally flagged the ability’s lack of an enough enrichment plan for a bonded pair of macaws and a parrot held alone, all of whom have plucked out their feathers as a consequence of obvious psychological misery, in addition to its lack of skilled employees, noting that there’s at present a single veterinarian employed to look after 46 marine mammals, 50 birds, and lots of of fish, sharks, and rays.
“Animals are at risk each minute they spend contained in the Miami Seaquarium, which is failing on each degree to satisfy their wants,” says PETA Govt Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Time should be up. PETA is looking on Miami-Dade County to cease enabling the Seaquarium’s animal abuse and provides this infamous abusement park the boot.”
Different violations famous within the USDA’s most up-to-date inspection report are for quite a few services in disrepair, together with a rusted penguin enclosure with peeling paint, crumbling drywall, and black mildew; dolphin swimming pools with damaged concrete; a fringe fence with unfastened razor wire; and a “robust noxious odor” emanating from a chicken trailer. USDA inspection reviews from 2021, 2022, and all through 2023 all doc persistent and repeated animal welfare violations on the facility.
PETA—whose motto reads, partially, that “animals aren’t ours to make use of for leisure”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For extra data on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please go to PETA.org, take heed to The PETA Podcast, or observe the group on X (previously Twitter), Fb, or Instagram.
