FORT WORTH, Texas — A Fort Worth aquarium has closed after allegations of animal cruelty, PETA announced Monday.
The animal welfare organization had called on Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells to investigate allegations of animal neglect at the SeaQuest Aquarium in Ridgmar Mall in Fort Worth.
Three former employees described conditions including overcrowding, cramped enclosures and poor water quality, according to PETA.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported the aquarium was also cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for unsanitary conditions.
SeaQuest and Ridgmar Mall haven’t returned WFAA’s requests for comment, but the Fort Worth location is no longer listed on SeaQuest’s website and Google now lists the location as permanently closed.
“The SeaQuest chain is a scourge, and PETA will continue to call out its dreadful and deadly petting zoos until every location follows suit and closes,” PETA Foundation Associate Director Molly Johnson said in a statement.
SeaQuest CEO Vince Covino announced in August that he’d be stepping down amid public scrutiny of the company’s treatment of animals after an ABC News investigation.
PETA said in a news release that locations in Colorado, Connecticut, and Georgia have also closed.
The ABC News investigation, in collaboration with affiliate stations KXTV, KSTP and KTNV, earlier this year found that nine SeaQuest locations were cited more than 80 times in the past five years by federal and state government agencies for issues ranging from potential disease hazards to inadequate care of animals, which in some cases led to animal deaths.
