Shut Down Seaquarium! ‘Crying Dolphin’ to Protest Over Starved and Stressed Animals, Bitten Visitors

For Immediate Release:
October 27, 2022

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

On Saturday, a “crying dolphin” will lead a coalition of PETA supporters in urging Miami-Dade County to shut down the Miami Seaquarium after a new federal inspection report just obtained by PETA documented employees’ practice of starving dolphins into submission and forcing them to perform more often, causing them to attack trainers and bite visitors out of sheer stress.

When:      Saturday, October 29, 12 noon

Where:     The Miami Seaquarium, 4400 Rickenbacker Cswy., Key Biscayne

PETA points out that animals are still suffering, even after county officials committed to greater oversight of the facility following a damning report last year that revealed a slew of animal welfare violations, including feeding animals rotten fish, forcing lone orca Lolita to perform tricks that likely injured her jaw, and housing incompatible dolphins together, which resulted in deaths.

“Miami-Dade County officials assured the public that things would change at the Seaquarium, yet Lolita continues to languish in the world’s smallest orca tank and dolphins are being starved and deprived of any semblance of a meaningful life,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on officials to shut down this seedy abusement park and compel it to send these long-suffering animals to seaside sanctuaries, where they would finally be able to start recovering from their lifetime of trauma. Time’s up!”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.