A Boise-based aquarium company connected to the family that once owned the Idaho Aquarium was in the spotlight earlier this year due to an investigative report aired on Good Morning America.
ABC News and several affiliates around the country aired a story diving into issues at the for-profit company SeaQuest, which is headquartered in Boise and has seven locations of interactive aquariums with animals, fish and reptiles on display in shopping malls nationwide. The company is owned by Vince Covino, who co-founded the nonprofit Idaho Aquarium with his brother Ammon Covino in 2010.
The Covinos made local headlines in the years they ran the nonprofit for allegations of animal abuse both nationwide and in Southwest Idaho. The family no longer owns or operates the Idaho Aquarium, now known as Aquarium of Boise.
ABC’s investigation revealed issues with visitors being injured by animals in the interactive exhibits and citations from multiple government agencies over possible exposure to diseases and concerns about animal care and wellbeing. The story featured an interview from a mother who had their child bitten by a grouper in a touch tank, concerns from former employees and revealed internal messages about animal care from a SeaQuest location in Minnesota.
A request for SeaQuest to comment on the ABC News report was not returned prior to the publication of this story.
What did the investigation find?
ABC’s report outlined several issues with safety for both the visitors to SeaQuest and the animals in the company’s care.
The report mentioned in several places that the interactive element of SeaQuest is problematic for visitors because it opens up the possibility for bites, scratches and other injuries to people touching or playing with the wild animals on display. A mother interviewed by ABC described her daughter being bitten by a grouper while she had her hand in a stingray tank, which was treated “almost like it was a normal occurrence.”
ABC’s report noted they found more than 75 instances of visitors being injured by animals since SeaQuest opened its first location in 2016.
The news outlet also reviewed state and federal documents about SeaQuest, revealing it had been cited more than 80 times in the past five years by multiple agencies. This included the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Issues found in the documents ranged from “human injuries, potential disease hazards, the inadequate care of animals and, in some cases, conditions that lead to animal deaths.”
Internal messages obtained by ABC News showed that SeaQuest’s push to upsell customers for animal “interactions,” where they can pay an extra fee (up to $500 for a premium interaction) to touch or play with a specific animal, caused issues in Minnesota. The messages showed a veterinarian on staff with SeaQuest was concerned about otters being “past due” for their rabies shots and the company’s director of wildlife questioning whether the animals needed the shots at all due to the plexiglass design of the exhibit.
Three sources told ABC affiliate KTSP that guests were allowed to continue interacting with the animals during this time. Employees at the location also documented injured and dead animals, including bleeding reptiles, potbelly pigs with skin disease and a sloth that employees told ABC was “shaking from stress.”
A former employee who spoke to ABC affiliate KTNV in Las Vegas provided the outlet photos and documentation she kept while working at SeaQuest, including a turtle with shell rot, an iguana with scale rot, birds missing most of their feathers, and many sick and injured reptiles. Another employee described how a bird became trapped between the aviary and a back wall, which she said was left to die instead of being rescued.
KTNV also obtained medical records of a three-year-old child being hospitalized after a shark latched on to his or her elbow during a feeding encounter. This aligns with reports from former employees that SeaQuest was limiting official feedings of the animals to encourage more guest interactions, which led to issues with animals either being more aggressive out of hunger or eating their tank mates.
Covinos hit headlines in Boise
There may not be a SeaQuest location in Boise, but the Covino name being linked to animal abuse allegations is not new in Boise.
Since Vince Covino and his brother Ammon opened Idaho Aquarium in 2010, the facility and the brothers faced a number of problems. This includes a fine against Vince Covino in 2017 for violating state law to raise investment money for new aquariums, and a 2013 prison stint for Ammon Covino for conspiring to bring illegally harvested spotted rays and lemon sharks from Florida to Boise for display. Ammon Covino also got snagged for violating his probation requiring him not to interact with fish or wildlife after he got caught helping set up new aquariums in Nevada and Utah.
There have been issues at other aquariums linked to the Covinos. This includes the Portland Aquarium, founded by Vince and Ammon Covino, where the Oregonian reported the facility logged more than 200 animal deaths and admitted to lax veterinary care, and citations at the Austin Aquarium and the San Antonio Aquarium owned by Ammon Covino’s wife.
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office under Lawrence Wasden launched an investigation into the Idaho Aquarium after Conk and Covino were sentenced to prison in 2013. The office’s 42-page report discovered poor management and a lack of oversight from the nonprofit’s board led to bad record keeping, deceptive solicitations for donations and excessive compensation for Ammon Covino and Chris Conk, according to the Idaho Statesman.
The Idaho Aquarium renamed itself to Aquarium of Boise under new management. But by 2016, it faced possible eviction over damage to the roof likely caused by open-air fish tanks and high humidity in the building. The aquarium remains in the same location today, indicating the eviction and dispute over the roof repair due to the original design of the space was resolved.