According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) latest federal inspection report, which just became publicly available, the Miami Seaquarium was cited on September 27 for a slew of violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act identified in July, including for an incident in which a dolphin had bitten a patron’s hand during an interactive handling session as well as for endangering a dolphin who had ingested plastic and a chunk of concrete in a deteriorating tank; for holding a manatee alone in an enclosure lacking shade; for permitting a dolphin to sustain rib injuries, likely from being confined and unable to escape from incompatible tankmates; and for failing to have appropriate veterinary oversight, including because trainers had been instructed not to contact the veterinarian and because numerous veterinarian and vet tech positions had been left vacant.

Below, please find a statement from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman:

How many more animals does this hellhole need to torment before it accepts that all the world wants from it is a “permanently closed” sign? Miami-Dade County lawmakers living in fantasyland assured the public that things would change for the better at the Seaquarium, yet this report proves that’s not happening at all. PETA is calling on officials to shut the facility down and ensure that the dolphins and all the animals there are sent to sanctuaries, where they would finally start recovering from their lifetime of trauma and get the care they so desperately need.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.