As many as 6,000 animals at other sites owned by the bankrupt SeaQuest interactive aquarium chain remain in limbo
WOODBRIDGE, N.J.––A clue to the possible disposition of at least some of the estimated 7,500 animals left in limbo by the December 2024 application for Chapter 11 bankruptcy of SeaQuest Holdings LLC came in a January 29, 2025 letter from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to the SeaQuest franchise in Woodbridge, New Jersey.
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a bankrupt business to retain assets and remain in business while discharging debts.
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy could allow the five remaining SeaQuest aquarium locations to keep their animals, despite repeated alleged violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and state and local animal care standards.
SeaQuest allowed touching, petting––and other locations still do
The SeaQuest chain featured many hands-on exhibits that allowed visitors to touch, pet, and in some cases actually pick up and handle the animals, many of them not aquatic species despite the implications of the SeaQuest name.
Of 14 SeaQuest locations originally opened, those still in operation are in Folsom, California; Layton, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada; Roseville, Minnesota; and Woodbridge, New Jersey, the one within the jurisdiction of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
“The Department has constructively seized all regulated animals possessed by SeaQuest,” the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection letter to SeaQuest said, according to Brianna Kudisch of NJ Advance Media.
Kudisch disclosed the content of the letter on February 11, 2025.
“Started to revoke permits”
“The state Department of Environmental Protection sent a letter to SeaQuest Woodbridge notifying the aquarium it has started to revoke its permits,” Kudisch said. “The move comes two years after state officials placed the facility on probation after years of animal abuse allegations.
“The Notice of Revocation and Administrative Order requires SeaQuest to comply with all permit regulations and prohibits SeaQuest from transferring any regulated species to another location without the Department’s permission,” department spokesperson Caryn Shinske told Kudisch in a written statement.
Failing SeaQuest locations in the past have moved their animals to other SeaQuest facilities.
SeaQuest was given 20 days to appeal the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection order. That time will expire on February 20, 2025.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Not allowed to transfer animals
Still operating, SeaQuest Woodbridge “is barred from moving any animals to other locations without approval from the state, according to the state’s letter,” Kudisch said.
“SeaQuest must also provide veterinary and death records for its animals, and is required to immediately cease public interactions with its wildlife.
“The company must also test a few of its birds — the green-winged macaw, blue and yellow macaw and rose breasted cockatoo — for avian chlamydiosis and send the results to the state,” Kudisch added.
Opened inside the Woodbridge Center mall in 2019, SeaQuest was placed on probation in September 2023 after repeated alleged violations of New Jersey animal care laws.
Failed probation
“The aquarium’s probation was scheduled to end after a year,” Kudisch explained, “but state officials sent SeaQuest a letter in 2024 outlining corrective actions the company allegedly failed to take. The probation was extended indefinitely.
“The alleged violations included conditions that allowed animals in the SeaQuest aquarium to attack each other for years, poorly constructed enclosures, inadequate veterinary records, and animals found with missing limbs,” Kudisch detailed.
Among the debts declared by SeaQuest Holding in petitioning for bankruptcy were reportedly more than $381,000 in back rent owed to the Woodbridge Center mall.
“The Department of Environmental Protection orders apply to SeaQuest’s amphibians, birds, mammals including a sloth and otter, and reptiles including a snake, pythons, a lizard and tortoise,” updated Suzanne Russell for MyCentralJersey.com.
“Nearly 100 animals died at SeaQuest Woodbridge in five years”
“New Jersey state records uncovered by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA],” Russell added, “reveal that nearly 100 animals have died at SeaQuest Woodbridge in the past five years — including a baby sloth who died less than a month after arriving at the facility.”
Said PETA Foundation general counsel for captive animal law enforcement Brittany Peet, “Otters, sloths, lizards, and other animals held at SeaQuest Woodbridge will get a small measure of relief from being poked and harassed by the public, but they are still suffering in SeaQuest’s filthy tanks and shoddy cages.
“PETA urges SeaQuest to send the surviving animals to reputable facilities,” Peet emphasized, “and PETA encourages everyone to stay far away from this dangerous and incompetent hellhole.”
Stop Seaquest Woodbridge
Along with PETA, “TAPinto Woodbridge-Carteret heard from Avenel-based Stop Seaquest-Woodbridge, the Uncle Neil’s Home [sanctuary for farmed animals] in Gloucester County, and Revolution Philadelphia,” self-described as an “independent grassroots animal rights organization founded and organized by women,” reported TapInto.net correspondent Tony Galloto, “each applauding the state’s latest actions.
“StopSeaquest-Woodbridge, represented by Avenel activists Nicole Paternoster and Jessica Maher,” Galloto added, on February 15, 2025 continued a long-running series of protests “outside the Woodbridge Center mall. They will also appeal to the Woodbridge Township Council on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, to revoke municipal business and health permits,” Galloto said.
“Tries to pretend we are not here”
“An email from the Avenel group says Woodbridge Township ‘tries to pretend we are not here,” Galloto continued, ‘and claims to have no jurisdiction over’ SeaQuest-Woodbridge.’
“StopSeaQuest believes Woodbridge ‘does have the right to revoke (local) permits under Woodbridge Ordinance 11-8.1,” Galloto finished, which allows operating permits for animal facilities to be revoked if falling short of “maintaining the good health of the animal(s) in question.”
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection action comes with the fate of as many as 6,000 animals at the other four SeaQuest locations still undecided.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boise, Idaho, on January 31, 2025 blocked an application from SeaQuest Holdings LLC to sell the remaining company assets––including the animals––to a 4% shareholder in the bankrupt company for $80,000, mere pennies on the dollar owed.
Applying for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2024, SeaQuest Holdings LLC chief executive Aaron Neilsen indicated that animals of about 300 species were at each site then, but did not say how many individual animals that represented.
(See SeaQuest bankruptcy leaves animals hanging in the scales of justice.)
Please donate to support our work:
More related posts:
Discover more from Animals 24-7
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
