The Miami Seaquarium has been evicted, but its owner doesn’t plan to leave.
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The operator of the 38-acre marine park on Virginia Key sent a letter Monday to the county mayor’s office saying it will fight the county’s plan to force it to close by April 21. The nine-page letter also pushes back against allegations of animal mistreatment and poorly maintained structures at the park.
“We assert that the grounds for lease termination, as stated, are unfounded factually and legally — which we are prepared to defend through legal channels, if necessary,” Edwin Gonzalez, the executive director of The Dolphin Co., wrote in the letter.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava first moved to cancel the ground lease for the Seaquarium in January and earlier this month gave the park’s operator the April deadline to vacate the county-owned site.
The future of the waterfront site at 4400 Rickenbacker Causeway is uncertain if the Seaquarium is forced to vacate. Levine Cava said the property is part of the county’s park system and voters would have to approve a different commercial use for the land through a referendum, the Miami Herald reported.
The mayor’s move followed a series of critical reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that said dolphins and other animals at the park had received inadequate care. The Seaquarium’s chief veterinarian resigned in February.
In a Jan. 9 report, the USDA documented a dolphin with a two-inch nail in its throat and a sea lion that refused to eat because of untreated cataracts, CBS News Miami reported.
The report came five months after the death of Lolita, the Seaquarium’s aging orca that had been slated to be released off the coast of Washington state. An autopsy found the cause of death was liver failure.
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The Seaquarium has been open since the 1950s, and the Flipper television series was filmed there in the 1960s. It was acquired in 2022 by The Dolphin Co., a Mexico-based operator of more than 20 marine centers in eight countries.
In its termination letter to the park’s operators, county officials cited USDA reports between 2022 and 2024 that cited the Seaquarium seven times for failing to adequately maintain facilities and seven times for inadequate veterinary care, the Miami Herald reported.
Gonzalez wrote in the letter, addressed to Miami-Dade Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morales, that The Dolphin Co. “took immediate steps to rectify” alleged code violations and fix any structural issues referenced in the reports. Among the improvements cited were $200K spent to replace a floating dock in the stadium used for dolphin shows and the purchase of new trailers to house the park’s parrots.
“All animals are in a safe environment and there are no safety concerns,” Gonzalez wrote. “We assert that the County is usurping the exclusive legal authority of the Florida Wildlife Commission.”
Levine Cava’s office didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment Tuesday, but she said at a press conference announcing the lease termination last week that “the situation at the Seaquarium is so dire that we believe terminating the lease is the best course of action to assure safety for all.”
Levine Cava’s administration said in December that the Seaquarium had missed rent payments, and the termination letter to The Dolphin Co. from Morales cited a “long and troubling history” of the park’s failure to keep the property in good condition and care for animals.
In Gonzalez's Monday letter, he requested a meeting with administration officials to find a way to keep the marine park in operation.
“We received your notice with grave concern and disappointment,” Gonzalez wrote. “Upon thorough internal review and consultation with independent third-party experts, we have found substantial evidence that contradicts the claims made in your notice.”
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