“I was a little skeptical at first when she talked about the place, thinking, ‘Animals in a shopping mall that you can pet and feed? That can’t be right,’” Bernstein recalls. “Needless to say, I was pretty horrified when I saw the place and how it operates.”
She observed what she considered to be poor conditions — small, dirty and unsafe enclosures — and has returned every so often without her granddaughter in tow to check on the SeaQuest creatures and their habitats.
Bernstein feels for them. If she sees something particularly egregious, she files a complaint or sends photos to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, aka PETA.
“On my most recent visit, I noticed the thick dust that has accumulated on the plants and shelves,” she says, providing images where she swiped her fingers across a few artificial plants.
“The Sulcata Tortoise enclosure was grim," she adds. "The toys in there were caked in a sticky grime from the floor of the enclosure, which of course also harbors animal feces and urine.”
Furthermore, that tortoise area doesn’t require employee supervision with visitors, so Bernstein worries that children left to their own devices are likely to touch the animal toys and then put their hands in their mouths. Previously, she says, interaction with the Sulcata Tortoise required staff supervision.
This tortoise and its dirty toys don't require supervision when people enter its enclosure.
Ann Bernstein
“I was in the enclosure alone with the Sulcata, and I thought, this is nuts, I could be feeding this animal something toxic or interacting with it in a way that is completely inappropriate,” Bernstein recalls.
Her observations about the lack of safety in animal enclosures are backed up by United States Department of Agriculture inspection records. In July, the USDA slapped SeaQuest Littleton with a critical citation because a sugar glider possum named Luna had to have half her tail amputated after getting stuck in a new enrichment structure added to her cage.
“Enrichment and other items in the enclosure that cause entanglement or entrapment can lead to injury or even death,” the USDA inspection report reads. “All parts of the enclosure must be constructed of such material and of such strength as appropriate for the animals involved. All parts of the enclosure shall be structurally sound and shall be maintained in good repair to protect the animals from injury and to contain the animals.”
PETA, which has long called for an investigation into SeaQuest’s business practices, says that instead of a mere citation, the injury to Luna’s tail should result in the USDA taking action to shut down the Littleton facility.
“SeaQuest Littleton is once again facing scrutiny because an animal was injured by unsafe conditions,” says Michelle Sinnott, PETA Foundation director of captive animal law enforcement. “This severe and likely painful injury is another horrifying example of SeaQuest Littleton’s lack of care and inexperience when it comes to caring for animals.”
SeaQuest did not respond to requests for comment.
The chain is owned by Vince Covino, who, along with his brother Ammon, has been connected to poor animal treatment in the past. Ammon was convicted of trafficking wildlife at his Idaho Aquarium in Boise before he helped Vince open SeaQuest locations in Las Vegas and Layton, Utah.
In 2013, 200 animals died over a span of three months at the now-closed Portland Aquarium, which was owned by the Covino brothers.
SeaQuest Littleton lost its license from Colorado Parks and Wildlife in 2019 after it reported over fifty injuries to staff and guests. The CPW license regulated only some of the species at SeaQuest, which were removed and replaced, allowing the operation to continue without licensing simply by not having any regulated species on site.
After that, the state's Pet Animal Care Facilities Act program — created by the Colorado Legislature in 1994 and administered by the Colorado Department of Agriculture — instituted a commercial pet animal facility license that allows it to regulate all animals at SeaQuest Littleton that are not considered wildlife, such as iguanas, fish and birds. However, it does not have authority over every species at the facility: According to a PACFA spokesperson, the injured sugar glider was not reported to the agency.
SeaQuest Littleton reapplied for a new zoological license through CPW in September 2021. But CPW Public Information Supervisor Travis Duncan says it has not been approved for a license since 2019. The facility ran into more trouble with the state in 2021 when it purchased a snapping turtle, which is not permitted in Colorado. SeaQuest was charged for illegally possessing the turtle and paid a fine.
This tortoise and its dirty toys don't require supervision when people enter its enclosure.
Ann Bernstein
Sinnott says that punishment wasn’t enough, because the turtle “lost everything and is now forced to live in a shopping mall for the rest of his life.” The shelled creature was relocated to another SeaQuest location.
PETA called on the USDA to suspend SeaQuest’s Animal Welfare Act license in January 2022 over possession of the turtle. Sinnott maintains that the USDA can revoke SeaQuest’s license because the company violated state law in Colorado.
Instead, the USDA issued SeaQuest a new license in December 2022.
“The USDA has a terrible track record of enforcing the Animal Welfare Act,” Sinnott notes. “Ultimately, it’s the animals at that facility, including Luna, who are paying the price.”
When asked for comment, the USDA pointed Westword to its inspection records for SeaQuest Littleton.
There have been three USDA inspections there this year, and all have resulted in citations: two critical (including Luna's injury) and two non-critical. The non-critical citations came in May, for a broken enclosure and for missed doses of medicine for a sugar glider named Hermione.
“Not following the attending veterinarian’s instructions for medications can lead to inadequate treatment of issues and worsened outcomes for the animals,” the inspection report concludes.
One of the critical citations in 2023 was over a 2022 incident in which a Savannah cat bit a small child while the employee supervising its enclosure was distracted with another patron. As a result, all of the Savannah cats at the facility had to be quarantined away from humans because they are classified as a rabies vector species, and the employees were unsure which of the three cats had bitten the child.
Quarantine is the alternative to euthanasia. Since Savannah cats — like all wildlife — are considered rabies vectors, they can be subject to euthanasia when they bite people, because the only way to test for rabies is to dissect an animal’s brain.
“That’s why it’s so serious when they have animals biting and scratching guests,” Sinnott says.
During Bernstein’s visit, she observed that the cats were not there anymore. She says an employee told her that they had been relocated to a private home because they could no longer interact with visitors, particularly children.
Instead of Savannah cats, there are now “Toygers” in the cat enclosure.
These are domestic felines bred to have stripes like tigers. Sinnott says SeaQuest may have made that move because domestic cats aren’t considered as dangerous for rabies and must only be quarantined for ten days in the case of a bite or scratch — which is much more profitable for the facility, she suggests.
"Toygers" now reside at SeaQuest Littleton.
Ann Bernstein
In the case of citations, the USDA simply follows up to be sure the problems are corrected. It doesn’t typically take further action, Sinnott says.
“The best call to action, and the thing that we try to tell the public all the time, is that the wheels of justice at regulatory agencies move so slowly, and the animals who are stuck at SeaQuest can’t wait for the USDA to get its act together and enforce federal law,” she says. “The public can help now by never buying a ticket to one of these shady aquariums.”
Bernstein tells Westword that she will keep cataloguing her observations of SeaQuest Littleton’s shortcomings. She'd love to see it shut down one day from a lack of visitors — or because someone finally takes responsibility for giving the animals a better home.
"It sickens me that these animals live in a dark, dusty, fluorescent-lit shopping mall, never experiencing sunlight or fresh air," she says. "Unfortunately, creating an environment for profit where animals are stressed and sad is not illegal, but perhaps I may see something on one of my visits that is a reportable violation...and reporting that might be one step closer in getting this place shut down."
