In Seaquarium eviction, county prepping to take custody of park’s animals if needed

As an eviction fight ramps up, Miami-Dade County said Wednesday it will be ready to take custody of the sea lions, dolphins, birds and other animals belonging to the Miami Seaquarium.

“The county is currently putting together a contingency plan in case we do have to care for the animals,” Melanie Spencer, an assistant county attorney, told a federal judge during a Wednesday afternoon hearing on a Seaquarium effort to block the eviction notice Miami-Dade issued two weeks ago.

A Seaquarium lawyer warned that park animals were at risk if Miami-Dade steps in to take care of them, telling U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra the county isn’t ready for that undertaking.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade serves Seaquarium with eviction notice

“I don’t believe they understand the scope of the number of animals in [the Seaquarium’s] custody,” said Hilton Napoleon II, a Coral Gables lawyer representing the theme park. “The amount of food they eat. Why the dolphins need to eat ice.”

The competing scenarios of a county Seaquarium takeover rested mainly on a legal argument, rather than Miami-Dade threatening to take custody of the theme park’s menagerie as part of the eviction proceedings.

The hundreds of animals in the Seaquarium belong to the Dolphin Company, which operates the park and runs marine-mammal attractions around the world.

The administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is preparing to ask a Florida judge to force the Seaquarium to surrender its 38-acre leased property back to the county over alleged mismanagement of the property and mistreatment of animals. The Seaquarium denies the allegations.

In a federal suit filed April 19, a Dolphin Company subsidiary, MS Leisure Corp., cited U.S. regulations of captive animals in asking Becerra for an injunction preventing Miami-Dade from taking over the property.

Becerra said she was reluctant to wade into the eviction dispute on the grounds of Miami-Dade potentially violating the Endangered Species Act or federal rules on captive migratory birds when the county hasn’t yet tried to seize any of the Seaquarium’s animals.

“I’ve never had a case quite like this,” Becerra said.

The dispute pits Levine Cava against the Dolphin Company, the Mexico-based company that took over the Seaquarium in 2022 from the county’s prior operator.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade County moves to evict Miami Seaquarium, gives park until April to vacate

Levine Cava initially embraced the new ownership for its pledge to relocate Lolita, the Seaquarium’s aging killer whale, to an open-water sanctuary. But the relationship soured in the months after the orca died Aug. 18.

Federal inspectors cited the park for concerns related to animal care, and county inspectors detailed numerous failings with the park’s infrastructure. The Seaquarium claims Miami-Dade is ignoring a string of fixes for the animal-care issues. It also says the county is wrongly blaming the Dolphin Company for long-running deferred maintenance at the county-owned park.

Spencer, the county lawyer, said in the next several days the fight would move to Circuit Court when Miami-Dade files a formal eviction suit.

That will bring the matter before an elected state judge, who can decide whether Miami-Dade has the right to void the Seaquarium’s lease and take back the property that has been the theme park’s home since the 1950s.

Napoleon, the theme park’s lawyer, said the Seaquarium is worried Miami-Dade will close the property and order staff to stay away. “If they put a red tag on this facility, and we’re not allowed inside, this can cause serious hazards for the animals,” he said.

Spencer did not elaborate on the county’s contingency plan but said the administration has been in touch with the federal agencies that regulate animals in captivity at entertainment venues like the Seaquarium.

She also suggested Miami-Dade could turn to other animal parks for help in the event that forcing the Seaquarium out left the local government with living assets of the current operator.

“We have been in contact with other facilities,” she told Becerra.

Levine Cava’s top deputy, chief operations officer Jimmy Morales, noted after the hearing that Miami-Dade operates Zoo Miami, with county employees who are experts in animal care.

“Obviously at the zoo, we have hundreds and thousands of animals, some of which are endangered,” he said in an interview. “We obviously have the capacity to care for them. “