Owner Of SeaQuest Aquarium In Woodbridge Responds To Criticism

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Earlier this week, Patch wrote about the criticism that continues to build against SeaQuest aquarium at the Woodbridge Center Mall. Visitors to the "please-touch" aquarium, located on the ground floor of the mall, say the animals look sick and injured; the exhibits look dingy and that children run wild, at risk of stepping on animals.

Now today, SeaQuest owner Vince Covino, plus his director of animal husbandry, responded directly to the complaints.

"We had inspections Tuesday from every agency you could imagine, just this morning," Covino told Patch Tuesday night. "U.S. Department of Agriculture, state of New Jersey Fish & Wildlife, Animal Control, police and more. This is dozens of inspections now, all with the same outcome — no concerns, all animals and habitats are just fine."

"Anything else is just out of context, or a lie," he added.

A spokeswoman for the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife confirmed this week they've inspected SeaQuest and issued no violations. A spokesman for the Woodbridge Board of Health said the same.

Some of the specific complaints reported by Patch and elsewhere are that: The birds in the parakeet exhibit are in danger of being squeezed or stepped on by children. The kinkajou (also known as a honey bear) was seen rabidly running back and forth; it appeared to be suffering from zoochosis, or when caged animals go crazy. A boa constrictor did not appear to have enough water to submerge in and with insufficient humidity in its pen. One of the Silkie chickens had diarrhea and appeared sick. And finally, a duck's leg appeared to be broken.

"SeaQuest is dedicated to provide excellent husbandry to the animals under our care," said Joseph Mazzola, SeaQuest's national husbandry director. "As a result of accusations made by activists, we have been busy touring many regulatory agents through site inspections and all found that the complaints held no merit. We are confident with our animal programs and operations and it's important to us that the community supports our mission, too."

Covino owns nine other SeaQuest locations across the U.S. and is in the process of opening a tenth SeaQuest location in Fort Lauderdale, he told Patch. He wanted to open a SeaQuest on Long Island, but pulled out after PETA, plus actor Alec Baldwin, wrote letters to Oyster Bay Town officials asking them to deny his application. His Littleton, Colorado SeaQuest failed two animal welfare inspections, and residents also successfully petitioned to prevent a SeaQuest from opening in Lynchburg, Virginia.

"I wanted to speak to some of the concerns brought up in the article," said Mazzola.

Provided by Mazzola, here is how SeaQuest responded to each complaint:

Parakeets
"Our parakeet aviary is supervised by a trained team member any and all times guests are present in the exhibit. We have a number of elements in place that provide physical and bio-security for the flock, but the concern was primarily focused on visitors being able to directly injure a bird. Our company culture of team members directly engaging guests paired with this closely supervised aviary experience greatly reduces the risk of a guest-induced injury. Visitors of the aviary are instructed to shuffle feet and remain seated before seed is offered to encourage the birds from the perches above. Errant seed is swept up from the floor to prevent accidents."

Kinkajou
"Our kinkajou is an active little one and we provide daily enrichment in the form of toys, puzzles, unique (and appropriate) diet items, smells and climbing structures. The smaller structure it was seen bouncing and rolling around in is the den box, should the kinkajou want a rest away from people. It's a favorite area for new smells and diet items to be offered. It's not uncommon to see it playing around its den throughout the day."

Boa
"All of our snakes are given full-body soaks. This is part of our husbandry team's routine and done 'off exhibit' to give us an opportunity to check body condition, look for mites or ticks, and keep our snakes accustomed to handling. Some snakes have a bad habit of over-soaking themselves, causing a potentially lethal infection. The dish seen on exhibit is for access to drinking water. Boas are known to take residence in mammal burrows in hopes for an easy meal and passively as a shelter from other predators. Our snakes are offered diets on a regular feeding schedule. The lack of environmental pressures that necessitate such structures and understanding this species is not known to be flighty or fearful in nature is what drives the decision as to what elements are and are not included in its exhibit."

Silkies
"The Silkie chickens do get a lot of attention; they're a favorite to some of our younger guests. The Astro-turf is a sanitary floor cover to prevent a condition called bumblefoot, a bacterial infection when birds are walking only on hard surfaces. While all SeaQuest animals are provided with veterinary care, we are particularly careful with our bird collection as stress can lead to disease and disease can be devastating to a population. The comment that the bird had diarrhea and closed eyes was not reflected in the picture captioned, but should we have a veterinary matter with our birds we have off-exhibit holding for treatment and quarantine when necessary."

"All of the above has oversight through reports, logs, video conference calls, routine meetings and trainings as well as on-site inspections," Mazzola continued. "I hope this helps answer some of the questions. We're excited to be in Woodbridge and look forward to connecting the community with animals from all over the planet for years to come!"

A group holds protests every weekend outside the Woodbridge Center Mall, calling on the state to shut SeaQuest down. There are organized by Denise Morgan, a Sayreville resident. The next protest will be this Sunday, Jan. 12.

This video shows a kinkajou repeatedly moving back and forth, according to Morgan:

Covino founded SeaQuest with his brother, Ammon Covino, who in 2013 was sentenced in Florida federal court for conspiring to bring illegally harvested rays and lemon sharks into the state of Florida.

When interviewed by Patch last fall, Covino said his brother has served his time and is out of prison.

"He helped me in the beginning and I have a lot of respect for my brother," he said. "But he is no longer part of SeaQuest. He does not work for the company."

Patch's ongoing reporting on SeaQuest: Criticism Mounts At SeaQuest Aquarium At Woodbridge Center Mall

Sneak Peek At Woodbridge Center Mall Aquarium

Aquarium Coming To Woodbridge Center Mall