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Three black-footed penguins named Daisy, Blueberry and Tinker wobbled outside their enclosure on Sunday and found an unusually robust crowd of several dozen people waiting.
It was the last day of the Miami Seaquarium, a South Florida landmark for 70 years, and residents came for a final glimpse of the beloved animals that reminded them of childhood. Penguins on their daily march. Sea lions performing tricks. The dolphin show named after “Flipper,” the television series that helped make the Seaquarium famous more than half a century ago.
“It’s sad, like a last hurrah,” said Sue Chatlos, 76, who was visiting the park for the first time in two decades along with her husband, Mark, and their 55-year-old son, Jason. “I’m going to start crying.”
Outside the aquatic park, protesters popped bottles of bubbly to celebrate what they called an end to animal cruelty. Animal rights activists targeted the Seaquarium for years, especially when it was still home to the orca Lolita, also known as Tokitae and Toki, who died in 2023.
“I have been protesting here since 1986,” said Susan Hargreaves, 66, of Palm Beach County, as she raised a glass of cava. “Today is another nail in the coffin in the animal prison industry.”
Inside, though many people said they would miss the park, few seemed to be lamenting its closure. “Our whole societal outlook on sea life has changed,” Mark Chatlos said. Before, keeping huge marine mammals and other animals to perform shows in theme parks was widely accepted. Not so much anymore.
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But the Chatloses were marking the passage of time. Ms. Chatlos, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, recalled joining her son on school trips to the Seaquarium when he was a child. Later, she brought her grandchildren, who are now adults. On Sunday, she, her husband and son were the first people inside the park on its last day.
Ms. Chatlos credited the Seaquarium with trying to teach visitors, especially children, about conservation. “If they don’t see them up close,” she wondered about marine animals, would future generations be as inclined to protect them?
The Seaquarium sits on 36 acres of waterfront property owned by Miami-Dade County in Virginia Key, with expansive views of the Miami skyline. After opening in 1955, 18 years before the theme park SeaWorld opened in Orlando, Fla., the Seaquarium became a mainstay tourist attraction. “Flipper” was filmed there in the 1960s, as were parts of other shows and movies.
But the park declined for some time. For many years, animal rights activists, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, protested the treatment and conditions for Lolita and other animals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture found in 2022 that nine dolphins were underfed to ensure that the “animals performed for guest interactions.” The Seaquarium agreed to release Lolita to the ocean months before she died in captivity.
In 2024, though the U.S.D.A. said the Seaquarium had complied with the federal Animal Welfare Act, Miami-Dade County canceled the Seaquarium’s lease, citing “continuous violations including decaying animal habitats” and “lack of veterinary staff.”
Raquel Regalado, a county commissioner whose district includes the Seaquarium, said it was time for a change. She remembered watching Lolita perform when she was a child and having a birthday party at the park. “Every time that somebody came to town, that’s where you would take them,” she said. Her son went to summer camp there for years.
But “the marine mammal part is sad,” she added, now that as an adult she knows and understands it. “That part is a little painful.”
The Seaquarium’s parent company, The Dolphin Company, which is based in Cancún, Mexico, filed for bankruptcy in March. Neither The Dolphin Company nor the Seaquarium responded to requests for comment. A veterinarian consultancy has been hired to relocate the animals over the next few months.
As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, a Miami developer has proposed taking over the lease for $22.5 million. That developer, the Terra Group, said it would modernize the site’s infrastructure, create a public bay walk and build a marina, restaurants and shops.
David Martin, the company’s chief executive, said in an interview that he would like to include an aquarium — without marine mammals — and other conservation-related educational offerings. He also intends to keep the Seaquarium’s striking gold geodesic dome, which was designed by the futurist architect R. Buckminster Fuller.
“This is an asset that has so many memories for so many families,” Mr. Martin said, adding that he first visited the Seaquarium when he was 3. “We want to do something that honors that but at the same time modernizes the place.”
On Sunday, the families and old-timers who came to visit one last time — paying $40 for adult admission and $20 for parking — seemed mostly unfazed by the Seaquarium’s evident disrepair, worn buildings and limited offerings. Signs were dingy and faded. Several exhibits were closed.
“It’s not dumpy,” insisted Beth Weisman, 67, of Aventura.
She described bringing her young son, Andrew, to visit shortly after the family moved from New York. Andrew Weisman, who is now 39, was with his mother on Sunday. He looked around.
“It looks exactly the same,” he said.
Kitty Bennett contributed research.
Patricia Mazzei is the lead reporter for The Times in Miami, covering Florida and Puerto Rico.
