Bimini was one of four animals marked for confiscation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a notice sent on Jan. 19, 2024, which accused MS Leisure of failing to comply with the Animal Welfare Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been informed that this confiscation is the first time in 30 years that the USDA has taken such a measure with marine mammals,\u201d Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a Jan. 21, 2024, letter to company president Eduardo Albor. \u201cThis underscores the gravity of the situation and cannot be taken lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The confiscation was never completed, however, and two of the four animals on the list have since died.<\/p>\n
USA TODAY has reached out to Mayor Cava\u2019s office, the USDA\/APHIS and The Dolphin Company, but has not received a response.<\/p>\n At least 11 known marine mammals have died at Seaquarium since March 2022, said animal advocate and former SeaWorld trainer Valerie Greene. \u201cIf Bimini had been confiscated last year, perhaps she\u2019d still be alive,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n The Seaquarium received an eviction notice from Miami-Dade County in January 2024, demanding it vacate the property by April 21, 2024. Leisure Investments violated its lease by treating its animals poorly and keeping the Seaquarium\u2019s grounds improperly maintained, according to city officials. However, a judge later denied the county\u2019s motion for an immediate eviction in November 2024 after Sequarium refused to vacate, saying it had evidence proving the claims in the demand letter were false.<\/p>\n The Dolphin Company later filed for Chapter 11 protection on March 31.<\/p>\n While the Seaquarium said in a news release issued Sept. 17 that Bimini had died \u201cunder the attentive care of experts at the Miami Seaquarium,\u201d inspection documents from the USDA\u2019S Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) show that adequate veterinary care for Bimini had been repeatedly delayed or denied altogether due to an apparent lack of resources in the years before her death.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure Bimini was miserable leading up to her death,\u201d said Greene, who was familiar with Bimini\u2019s treatment through her work with TideBreakers, an animal welfare group seeking to end captivity and improve laws and conditions for kept marine animals. \u201cShe was chronically ill and had suffered for a long time. The Seaquarium is going to say she was chronically ill and they did their best, but what kind of care was she receiving? Because she\u2019s dead now.\u201d<\/p>\n According to a USDA inspection report from October 2023, an APHIS veterinary medical officer found that Bimini had been discovered with a broken metal bolt in her mouth. The same records noted another dolphin kept at the facility had been found with foreign objects, including \u201ca two-inch nail, mangrove pods, and small pieces of shell\u201d in its throat.<\/p>\n \u201cEnclosures that are not kept in good repair may produce foreign material which could be ingested and become injurious to the animals,\u201d the inspection note said.<\/p>\n Records reviewed by APHIS similarly indicated that, on numerous occasions, the facility\u2019s attending veterinarian \u201cmade the determination that certain actions needed to be taken, however the facility did not follow through with these actions,\u201d including neglecting to schedule surgeries and procedures and failing to provide veterinary staff with basic equipment, including weighing scales, access to an ultrasound, radiography, endoscopy, CT or gastroscope, or a funcitoning anesthesia machine for emergencies.<\/p>\n Conditions did not improve for Bimini in the ensuing months, according to a January 2024 USDA inspection report, which noted she had a \u201ccomplicated medical history\u201d that required specialized diagnostic procedures that the Seaquarium could not provide. Bimini experienced \u201cpain and suffering,\u201d said the document, due to multiple broken ribs in various stages of healing resulting from attacks from other dolphins she was housed with. These fractures were observed in a Feb. 2023 CT scan, which was the last imaging she had received, said the report.<\/p>\n In a news release, The Dolphin Company said the injuries were diagnosed in 2021 and occurred \u201cprior to MS Leisure\u2019s ownership of the Miami Seaquarium,\u201d which began in March 2022. Dr. Jenna Wallace, a former veterinarian at Miami Seaquarium, confirmed to USA TODAY that these injuries occurred in 2021 under the purview of then-owner, Palace Entertainment.<\/p>\n The poor treatment of Bimini, however, remained consistent between owners, Wallace told USA TODAY.<\/p>\n \u201cBimini was one of the turning points for me personally and professionally when employed at Miami Seaquarium in 2021,\u201d she said. \u201cDespite the obvious defects of her thorax, and after reviewing the fractured ribs on the radiographs and the ultrasound images of the fluid around Bimini\u2019s heart, the staff refused to believe or acknowledge her condition.\u201d<\/p>\n Bimini\u2019s medical history was extensive and included persistent and serious pulmonary (lung) disease; tracheal stenosis, or inflammation or scar tissue that narrows the airway; moderate to severe diffuse lung disease, or lung disease that causes scarring in the lung tissue; significant bronchiectasis; kidney stones and fluid distention in the uterus.<\/p>\n As a result, Bimini exhibited difficulty breathing, which impacted her quality of life, according to the inspecting APHIS veterinary medical officer. While trainers told the inspector that Bimini was only instructed to perform a limited number of stunts, the medical officer observed respiratory distress even when the dolphin performed an \u201capproved\u201d action.<\/p>\n A veterinarian had prescribed imaging and testing to further address these concerns in September 2023, but \u201cdue to the lack of veterinary staff, equipment and specialists (CT imaging and anesthesia), and more pressing critical animal care cases,\u201d none had been completed by the January 2024 inspection.<\/p>\n \u201cAtlantic Bottlenose dolphins with respiratory abnormalities often experience a rapid decline in health which can result in pneumonia and death,\u201d the report reads. \u201cThey would require immediate veterinary attention with appropriate diagnostic equipment onsite as well as highly experienced staff to provide appropriate veterinary care and to alleviate suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n Other aquatic mammals examined during the same inspection were found to be in \u201cpoor body condition\u201d and severely underweight with visible spines, ribs and shoulder blades. Both inspections noted issues with the environments in which animals were housed, highlighting murky water, crumbling infrastructure, \u201cstrong noxious odor,\u201d and housing structures that remained unrepaired despite previous USDA instruction to do so.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are several animals deemed critical by the (attending veterinarian) that require medical treatments, diagnostic evaluations, and medical procedures that are not being provided to alleviate suffering,\u201d the January USDA report said.<\/p>\n Earlier reports dating back to 2021 show that crumbling structures resulted in multiple instances of animals being found with debris like concrete in their stomachs. Multiple structures, including a deck in the dolphin area, were condemned between 2021 and 2025.<\/p>\n These and other conditions have been extensively documented and brought to the attention of authorities, including Miami-Dade, the USDA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), said Greene. Yet, despite promises of confiscations, closures and improving conditions, animals are still suffering, she said.<\/p>\n Wallace echoed the sentiment, saying poor animal treatment has gone on too long at the Seaquarium.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one of the most tragic failures in animal welfare and federal oversight. I am hopeful that Florida FWC and DOJ will help right these wrongs that USDA failed to act on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n NOOA referred USA TODAY back to the APHIS when asked for comment. USA TODAY has reached out to FWC, but has not received a response.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been screaming from the rooftops that the animals are being abused\u2013to the County, to the federal agencies, yet nothing happens,\u201d Greene said. \u201cEven with The Dolphin Company\u2019s bankruptcy and criminal investigation, that\u2019s not enough to get these animals confiscated and removed to safe locations. How many animals have to die before the Miami Seaquarium is shut down once and for all? \u201c<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/09\/19\/USAT\/86245925007-img-4108.jpeg?width=960&ssl=1&w=1024&resize=1024&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
Evictions, bankruptcy, animal deaths plague the marine park<\/h2>\n
Dolphins endured \u2018pain and suffering,\u2019 according to USDA inspections<\/h2>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been screaming from the rooftops,\u201d say activists<\/h2>\n