The Woodbridge, N.J., location of SeaQuest, an interactive aquarium and animal attraction that promotes encounters between people and wildlife, was raided by New Jersey state officials on Thursday, after regulators said a lengthy investigation showed it had repeatedly violated animal protection laws.
In a statement, the Fish and Wildlife Division of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection said it had seized 25 animals, including a sloth, otters, a toucan, pythons and a critically endangered amphibian called an axolotl, and found new homes for them, after SeaQuest failed to properly care for them.
The facility also endangered the public and its staff, state regulators said, including by not quarantining birds and reptiles with viruses that could potentially spread.
The state revoked SeaQuest’s license to possess or show regulated exotic and endangered animals at its location at the Woodbridge Center mall. And it prohibited the facility from transferring the wildlife to its three other locations across the country without state approval.
Representatives for SeaQuest did not respond to a request for comment.
SeaQuest, an Idaho-based company founded a decade ago, declared bankruptcy last December. It has been under fire from federal and state regulators, animal ethicists, the Humane Society and other animal rights activists for years, for practices they said threatened both animals and the public. It is among a growing number of businesses that promote interactions with nondomesticated animals, often from tropical locales.
A SeaQuest in Trumbull, Conn., abruptly closed in 2023, after multiple citations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Woodbridge SeaQuest, where nearly 100 animals died between 2019 and 2023, has not been closed by the state, although regulators issued stern warnings about its practices and level of care. In addition to the animals that were seized, the facility had also exhibited and encouraged people to interact with a pig, rabbits, chickens and a tankful of bat rays.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection said it had received more than 3,500 complaints about SeaQuest since 2019, including some from former employees.
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