For Rapid Launch:
November 9, 2021
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Grand Forks, N.D. – In his bid for $1 million of taxpayer cash to construct an aquarium and petting zoo in a former Kmart, SeaQuest CEO Vince Covino has made quite a few demonstrably false statements to the Grand Forks Metropolis Council—together with about his connection to a convicted wildlife trafficker—and so this morning, PETA advised North Dakota Lawyer Normal Wayne Stenehjem of the info, requesting an investigation into obvious violations of the North Dakota Illegal Gross sales or Promoting Practices Act.
Covino’s false and deceptive claims embrace the next:
- Though he states that SeaQuest is the quickest rising aquarium/petting zoo firm “within the historical past of the world,” partially as a result of it has been “profitable with compliance with regulators,” SeaQuest has been hit with citations stemming from human accidents and animal deaths, a fantastic for possession of unpermitted animals, a license suspension, and a lawsuit over unpaid taxes.
- Whereas Covino has tried to distance himself from his brother, Ammon, a convicted wildlife trafficker, the indictment in opposition to Ammon outlines his try to amass sharks for an aquarium that he was constructing with Vince. Ammon was additionally arrested and jailed for violating his parole restrictions by engaged on the development and animal acquisition for 2 SeaQuest amenities.
- Vince Covino dismissed an incident by which a baby had been bitten by an otter at SeaQuest’s Connecticut location as “nothing to the extent the place a Band-Help wouldn’t repair it instantly,” however otter bites carry a threat of rabies an infection, and the chunk occurred simply two weeks after interactions with otters resumed following a six-month state-mandated rabies quarantine as a result of one other youngster had been bitten.
- Data present that SeaQuest Las Vegas secretly changed a lifeless otter with one other animal, in violation of its county allow. This unpermitted feminine otter was positioned with a male otter, although SeaQuest’s allow strictly prohibited breeding, and he or she grew to become pregnant a month after arriving. Opposite to Covino’s claims, this otter didn’t arrive at SeaQuest pregnant.
- Whereas Covino claims that SeaQuest has obtained funding “in each metropolis” and that $1 million “could be the smallest quantity of funds” that it’s ever obtained, solely Layton, Utah, appears to have given SeaQuest public funds—and solely $40,000.
“SeaQuest leaves a path of lifeless animals, injured clients, and controversy wherever it goes,” says PETA Basis Affiliate Director of Captive Animal Legislation Enforcement Michelle Sinnott. “PETA is looking on the state to not permit Vince Covino to swindle taxpayers out of one million {dollars} and to pursue all potential motion in opposition to him, as warranted.”
PETA—whose motto reads, partially, that “animals aren’t ours to make use of for leisure”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For extra details about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please go to PETA.org or comply with the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
