SeaQuest is a sequence of direct-contact shopping center aquariums that confine wild animals to crummy enclosures for anxious public encounters with gawking people.
Wild animals don’t wish to work together with people, and subjecting them to a barrage of unnatural, direct-contact encounters just isn’t solely anxious for them but in addition harmful for everybody concerned. To make issues worse, SeaQuest workers are demonstrably unfit to deal with wildlife appropriately and infrequently don’t intently monitor the general public’s interactions with animals.
SeaQuest clearly is aware of all this stuff, as there have been many accidents to guests and workers members at a variety of its places throughout the nation, leading to unfavorable buyer evaluations and a number of other federal citations.
A mom instructed PETA that her 3-year-old toddler was rushed to the emergency room after sustaining gaping wounds when an iguana “jumped from a rock and latched [onto] his arm.”
However the firm nonetheless hasn’t ceased its harmful operations.
So PETA is pushing again but once more.
On November 7, we filed an enormous grievance to the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC), calling on the company to research SeaQuest and the Austin Aquarium—one other seedy indoor mall petting zoo—over unfair commerce practices in obvious violation of federal legislation. Our groundbreaking grievance alleges that the businesses promote harmful, direct-contact encounters with wild animals, which have brought on a considerable variety of bodily accidents to unsuspecting clients.
Many incidents have occurred at SeaQuest places, together with the next:
- At SeaQuest Littleton, a pufferfish bit an 8-year-old little one; an Asian water monitor named Spartacus bit an worker; an iguana jumped onto a baby’s chest and “bought a claw inside her mouth”; an iguana jumped onto an worker’s shoulder and caught a nail below the particular person’s eye; iguanas have bitten guests on a number of events; a pacu bit a baby; a porcupine pufferfish bit a patron, who later reported numbness and problem respiratory; and a pig bit a customer, who reportedly needed to go to pressing care.
- At SeaQuest Fort Price, an iguana latched onto the arm of a 3-year-old boy, who needed to be rushed to the hospital to obtain stitches; a capybara bit the hand of a kid who had reached over the aspect of an enclosure; a fish bit a toddler’s fingers; a sloth bit a customer whereas workers weren’t absolutely monitoring the encounter; and an Asian small-clawed otter injured clients, even after the USDA cited the power over earlier accidents involving this animal.
The mom of an toddler instructed PETA that her little one had been bitten at SeaQuest Fort Price, leaving bloody scrapes throughout three of her fingers.
- At SeaQuest Trumbull, a pig bit a buyer’s finger, a kinkajou scratched a baby’s face whereas leaping for a bowl of meals, and an otter bit two kids.
- At SeaQuest Utah, an Asian small-clawed otter bit a company’ thumb, a kinkajou bit a visitor, and a coatimundi named Gus bit a customer and an worker.
- At SeaQuest Roseville, a sloth bit a visitor throughout an encounter. That 12 months, a number of of the animals on the facility had been recognized with ailments that would unfold to people, together with ringworm, chlamydia, and toxoplasmosis.
- At SeaQuest Las Vegas, a coatimundi reportedly scratched a boy, who was then taken to the hospital. As well as, a kinkajou bit an worker and a small-clawed otter named Chip bit an worker throughout a presentation.
PETA’s Urging the FTC to Take Motion
The FTC Act prohibits unfair or misleading commerce practices. SeaQuest and Austin Aquarium market themselves as secure, family-friendly operations whereas encouraging clients to have interaction instantly with wild animals, who can behave unpredictably and may doubtlessly be carrying transmissible ailments. Clients proceed to be injured by animals whereas partaking in actions that SeaQuest and the Austin Aquarium encourage.
PETA’s grievance asserts that the direct-contact encounters supplied by these services trigger a considerable variety of bodily accidents to customers and subsequently are unfair commerce practices that violate federal legislation. We’re calling on the company to research each firms over these alleged unfair commerce practices.
Right here’s What You Can Do
Whereas PETA has labored tirelessly to reveal SeaQuest for its merciless exploitation of animals—from offering native officers with proof of animal deaths to placing up a large “bloody” billboard close to a SeaQuest location—10 of its services are nonetheless open to the general public. However you may help us shut these depressing operations down.
By no means go to SeaQuest, the Austin Aquarium, or some other doubtful mall aquarium or roadside zoo. You probably have been injured at a SeaQuest location, you should definitely report the incident to native officers and speak to PETA.
Click on the button beneath to take motion towards SeaQuest:
