SeaQuest Littleton will be closing its doors on Feb. 4, after six years in business. It follows after numerous citations from regulatory agencies and complaints from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, centering around animal welfare and injuries to customers.
“After years of submitting complaints to federal and state authorities, PETA is celebrating the announcement that this death trap will be closed permanently,” said Michelle Sinnott, director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement with the PETA Foundation.
SeaQuest Littleton has faced a number of accusations since opening in 2018. In 2019, the aquarium’s license was temporarily suspended for a number of Colorado Parks and Wildlife violations. The facility has also received citations from the USDA and Jefferson County Animal Control.
“SeaQuest got busted for illegally possessing state-regulated wildlife. They weren’t reporting injuries to the public. A sloth was burned by a heat lamp twice,” said Sinnott. “In 2021, a wallaby named Ben could not escape an aquarium tank and drowned, because there were no stairs leading out of the tank.”