New NJ petting 'boo'
Activists slam ‘cruel’ mall aquarium
Animal advocates are loaded for bear to shut down a strange animal enclosure inside a New Jersey mall.
Last week, an undercover Post team visited SeaQuest at Woodbridge Center, which operates under permits from the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. It bills itself as a “petting zoo aquarium feeding experience!”
There, Peking ducks paddled through murky water that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since the Year of the Pig. Most exhibits had concrete floors and lacked instructional “dos and don’ts” signage.
At “Parakeet Paradise,” patrons were given mill and seed to attract a swarm of 120 hungry — activists say “starved” — lovebirds. A staffer instructed adults and kids to stay seated and slide their feet so as to not squash the Australian birds.
A 12-foot python seemed far too big for its enclosure, while a group of hybrid Bengal cats, said a staffer, “can bite and they do scratch.” Kids were within paws-length of the housecat-sized animals.
Last week 35 protesters showed up outside the mall to call attention to the conditions.
“Animals do not belong in a mall,” fumed Whitney Malin, of South Orange, who started an online petition to shutter the Woodbridge SeaQuest that has garnered nearly 14,000 signatures. “These aren’t toys. They are exploiting animals for entertainment to make money.”
Malin likened SeaQuest, which opened in November, to a “Chuckie Cheese with real, live animals.”
Denise Morgan of Sayreville runs the Facebook page Shut Down SeaQuest. “I won’t stop until SeaQuest is shut down all over America,” she told The Post.
SeaQuest, which has eight locations in the US, seems to generate protest everywhere it goes.
In Littleton, Colo., it reportedly failed two state animal-safety inspections and was the subject of an undercover investigation by the local Fox news affiliate which found “a murky tank going through a bacteria bloom; smelly, filthy eenclosures including a capybara pen; and an escaped lizardr wandering the concrete flfloor with a stampede of excicited customers threatening its safety.” In Lynchburg, i tVp Va., residents petitioned to prevent it from opening. On Jan. 2, Goats of Anarchy confirmed the Woodbridge location had closed its goat exhibit and surrendered Cora, Roxy and Stella to the nonprofit. Vince Covino, SeaQuesest’s owner and CEO, insistedsisted, “All exhibits are inspected regularly by many federal, state and local regulatory bodies. A local licensed veterinarian supervises the work of a team of dozens of full-time animal lovers to ensure all animals receive all the enrichment, nutrition and care appropriate for their well being.” A spokeswoman for the New Jersey state Department of Environmental Protection said it “has issued no fines or violations” to the company.