With the Miami Seaquarium now permanently closed, the owner plans to move the remaining animals to different aquariums, zoos, and former caretakers. The Florida’s Aquarium will send fish to the Dallas Aquarium soon.

The Dolphin Company, based in Mexico, recently sold its Virginia Key lease to developer David Martin for $22.5 million. In a bankruptcy filing last month, the company said it plans to move the animals to zoos, aquariums, and wildlife centers in states like Washington, Indiana, Virginia, and Kansas.

A new filing from December 1 shows the Dolphin Company also plans to give some animals to three people, two of whom used to work at the Miami Seaquarium.

Miami Seaquarium, which opened in 1955, closed last month after years of controversy and reports of animal safety violations.

Last year, Miami-Dade County ended the facility’s lease on the public site, citing a “long and troubling history” of animal welfare violations and marine mammal deaths.

A bankruptcy judge later approved the $22.5 million sale to Martin’s company, Terra Group. The firm plans to turn the 38-acre site into a waterfront dining village with a public baywalk and an aquarium without marine mammals. The Miami-Dade commission approved the lease transfer on Tuesday.

As the owner prepared to move the animals after the park closed, animal rights activists and former trainers asked the Dolphin Company to pause the process, check the animals’ health, and make a plan to send them to sanctuaries or release them into the ocean.

Two bottlenose dolphins died at the marine park in the past three months.

by: Staff