The decades-long captivity of two ageing manatees in “ever deteriorating conditions” at a Florida theme park will soon be over after the intervention of federal wildlife authorities and a campaign by animal rights activists for the mammals to be freed.
Romeo, a 67-year-old sea cow, and a female named Juliet, 61, have been at the Miami Seaquarium since being “rescued” as calves in 1956, but will be moved to sanctuary elsewhere perhaps as early as next week, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) told the Guardian.
According to the advocacy group UrgentSeas, which released a video on X last month showing Romeo swimming alone in a tiny and decaying circular tank in a remote, non-public area of the park, the pair have been kept apart for months and were suffering a “horrendous captivity”.
“Manatees are semi-social animals and suffer psychologically when not living in groups or pairs. But Romeo remains alone, all the time,” it said in the tweet, viewed by more than 3.3 million people.
Phil Demers, a former marine mammal trainer who founded the group, described Romeo’s isolated existence as “Groundhog Day in hell”. He praised the public response to UrgentSeas’ Free Romeo campaign for helping to secure their liberation.
“It’s a humbling experience to be a part of such a powerful and effective movement. It’s every activist’s dream to inspire change. I’m incredibly proud of the work of UrgentSeas,” he said.
FWS officials were also mindful of a scathing report from the US Department of Agriculture published this fall highlighting multiple violations by the Seaquarium in veterinary care, staffing levels and conditions in which its animals are housed.
Romeo, Juliet and a third, unidentified younger manatee that will be moved with them, all have reported health problems, and their transportation is considered “high risk”. But it is considered necessary for their future wellbeing.
Romeo, in particular, has health and dietary issues that must be carefully managed, meaning he is unlikely to ever be released back into the wild. FWS has not disclosed their ultimate destination, but the target is a facility in the manatee rescue and rehabilitation partnership, an alliance of accredited zoos, aquariums and marine life centers where they will have space to swim in the company of other manatees, and receive the specialized veterinary care they need.
“FWS takes the health and welfare of manatees in managed care seriously [and is] working with an experienced team of manatee rescue and rehabilitation experts through the MRP to assist with the transport effort of manatees from Miami Seaquarium,” the service said in a statement to the Guardian.
Manatees in captivity before the enactment of the 1972 endangered species and marine mammals protection acts are exempt from FWS management, but the service agreed to “take the lead” on the project at the request of the Seaquarium.
The complex operation to move them is expected to take place by the middle of this month. The USDA report prompted the Miami-Dade commission to set a deadline of 15 December for the various violations to be rectified, and UrgentSeas had been planning a demonstration at the Seaquarium on Key Biscayne the following day.
The move comes separately to a demand from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) that the commission terminate the lease of the Seaquarium for its treatment of Romeo and Juliet, and other recent controversies.
In August, its beloved orca Tokitae, taken in the Pacific as a calf and separated from her mother, died in her pen aged about 57 after more than half a century in captivity performing live entertainment shows. As with the manatees, activists had long complained about her treatment and accommodation, a tank only four times the length of her body, according to Peta.
The death through renal failure of the killer whale, which was given the performing name of Lolita, ended a lengthy campaign for her freedom. It also marked the end of an ambitious and costly project to build her a retirement “sea pen” in the Pacific so she could be near and engage with others in the L-pod of orcas she came from.
Other Seaquarium failures listed in the USDA report include the ingestion by a dolphin of a plastic zip tie and chunk of cement from a flaking pool floor; unexplained rib injuries to the same dolphin; a different dolphin biting a child’s hand during a “meet and greet” for tourists; and chronic understaffing resulting in a single veterinarian being left responsible for 46 marine mammals and hundreds of birds, fish, sharks and rays.
It noted Romeo’s tank was missing a sun shelter for at least 10 days, exposing the manatee to the harmful direct sunlight; and a “critical” violation that he had been left without company since three young manatees he was placed with were returned to the ocean in the spring.
“Despite having every opportunity to do so, the Seaquarium has proven unable or unwilling to operate lawfully, even amidst intense public scrutiny of the facility,” Jared Goodman, the group’s general counsel of animal law, wrote in the letter.
“The time has come to break the Miami Seaquarium’s cycle of abuse by immediately initiating proceedings to terminate the lease.”
A spokesperson for Danielle Levine Cava, Miami-Dade mayor, said that the commission issued a notice of default to The Dolphin Company, the Mexico-based parent company of Miami Seaquarium, reserving its “option to all available remedies within the law” if the attraction failed to rectify the defaults by the 15 December deadline.
The Guardian sent multiple requests to The Dolphin Company and the Miami Seaquarium for comment, but did not receive a response.
