Florida’s Miami Seaquarium, brought into the spotlight for the appalling manner in which its captive cetaceans were being held, has been permanently closed.
The park closed down on 12 October 2025 after 70 years in operation. Once famous as the site where the 1960’s friendly dolphin TV series Flipper was filmed, the theme park has been mired in controversy over the last decade over concerns for its captive animals’ welfare.
Miami Seaquarium hit the headlines in recent years over the treatment of Lolita the orca – also known as Tokitae – who was filmed by animal rights activist Phil Demers swimming in a small and dirty tank, together with some of the park’s resident dolphins.
Lolita’s plight drew a global outpouring of outrage, leading to a campaign to free her and rehome her in a proposed cetacean sanctuary in the Pacific northwestern waters of Puget Sound, Washington.
Tragically, Lolita died of renal failure in August 2023 before she could be moved. She was the second-oldest orca to be held captive anywhere in the world, and had spent 53 of her 57 years of age confined to theme park tanks.
Lolita’s tankmates, Elelo and Loki, a mother-and-son pair of Pacific white-sided dolphins, were moved to Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium on 3 August, two weeks before Tokitae died. Both Elelo and Loki, however, tragically died within a year of being transferred.
A third Pacific white-sided dolphin, a 40-year-old male named Li’i was transferred to SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas, in the months following Lolita’s death.
A pair of manatees named Romeo and Juliet were finally relocated to larger and substantially better facilities at ZooTampa in December 2023; however, Juliet – though to be aged 65 at the time she was moved – has also since died.
Miami Seaquarium had been struggling with mounting debts in the years preceding Lolita’s death, and was served with an eviction notice by Miami-Dade County over $88,000 in unpaid rent.
The park filed a lawsuit against Demers – a former animal trainer at the Aquarium – in October 2024, alleging that the footage he broadcast was obtained illegally, but the lawsuit was dropped after Seaquarium’s parent company, the Dolphin Company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April this year.
Dolphins, sharks and sea lions left in limbo
A number of dolphins, sea lions and seals – how many is unclear – remain at the park, as to other species including flamingos, birds, sharks, fish, and turtles.
Plans are underway to redevelop the area into a marina and commercial waterfront, meaning the animals must be forcibly relocated.
Animal rights organisations, including PETA, are calling for the animals to be returned to their natural homes or a reputable sanctuary. However, a former animal trainer at Miami Seaquarium has launched a petition calling on the animals to remain under care at Miami Seaquarium until suitable alternatives can be found.
The trainer, Valerie Warren, says she was an animal trainer and Assistant Supervisor of Animal Training at Miami Seaquarium between 2009 and 2019.
Citing the deaths of Elelo, Loki and Juliet, and stating that Miami Seaquarium has passed every USDA inspection since January 2025, Warren writes in her petition that relocation, especially for the older animals, would mean certain death.
‘Roughly half of the animals at Miami Seaquarium are geriatric, and relocation at their age and condition is extremely dangerous,’ says Warren.
‘There have already been examples of this: after dolphins Loke and Elelo were moved to another facility, both died just over a year later. Juliet, a manatee estimated to be 65 years old, also died within months of being transferred.
‘These aren’t isolated incidents. Moving older marine mammals often results in extreme stress, refusal to eat, or death shortly after transfer.
‘This isn’t about whether you support or oppose animals in captivity or defending the company — this is about protecting the individual lives that already exist and depend on our care.’
Warren is asking for Miami-Dade County and the Terra Group of real estate developers to delay the transfer of the lease to ‘until a transparent, humane animal welfare plan is publicly released,’ or consider establishing the park as a sanctuary for the animals who reside there to remain in care.
The bankruptcy court will review the transfer on 17 October before making its decision.
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