San Antonio Aquarium owners under investigation in 220 marine animal deaths
August 27, 2014 | In the PressFrom mySA.com (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-Aquarium-owners-under-investigation-5716516.php (opens in a new window))
The owners of the San Antonio Aquarium, which has plans (opens in a new window) to open this December, are under investigation in the deaths of more than 220 marine animals in three months from causes ranging from starvation and high temperatures to animal-on-animal attacks at their Portland location.
Ammon Covino, who co-owns aquariums in Austin, Portland and Boise, with his brother, Vince Covino, was also sentenced (opens in a new window) to a year in federal prison in December 2013 for illegally shipping sharks and stingrays from Florida to Idaho. As part of Ammon Covino's punishment, he was barred from working with wildlife exhibits or purchasing animals and is not currently involved in the San Antonio location but "may become director or employee down the road," owner Vince Covino told the San Antonio Express-News Wednesday.
"We were aware of those issues and were assured by the developer that the issues are being addressed and the facility here would be operated at the highest standard and in a professional manner," said Manny Longoria, city manager for Leon Valley. "We will be very, very diligent in ensuring the aquarium is operating at that level."
Vince Covino said email Wednesday the company Ammon Covino purchased the sharks from did not have permits to ship or sell the animals across state lines, but that those sharks are "healthy and doing well."
Vince Covino said the investigation by the Oregon Humane Society, which helps enforce (opens in a new window) state animal cruelty laws, is based on a "fraudulent death log."
"The report of the dead fish includes a log showing a snail dying of 'congestive heart failure' and another fish dying of 'depression.' It lists feeder fish that are, of course, intended to be food just as they are in the ocean," Vince Covino wrote in the email. "We do not employ a cardiologist nor a psychiatrist, nor do snails have hearts."
You can read the entire log here (opens in a new window).
Alexis Sadoti, media coordinator for PETA, told the Express-News that the Covino brothers "have an appalling track record."
"There is nothing educational about viewing and interacting with animals who have been warehoused in unnatural settings that deprive them of everything natural and important to them," Sadoti said. "The mortality rates for animals in these types of invasive tanks are staggering."
Covino said the animals at the San Antonio Aquarium "have better health care and medicine than most Americans."
"We also feel very confident that we always have and always will provide a healthy and safe environment for our animals," he said.
Construction of the enclosures at the 50,000 square-foot aquarium in Leon Valley began last week at the former Fiesta Dodge dealership located at 6320 Bandera Road, just outside of Loop 410. The largest exhibit will be a 125,000-gallon tunnel tank with various sharks and tropical fish, which may not be completed until March 2015.
SeaWorld and the San Antonio Zoo feature aquariums but the San Antonio Aquarium would be the only stand-alone facility.
Longoria said Leon Valley provided tax incentives over a 10-year period to Bandera Road Holdings, which is leasing the 13-acre property to the San Antonio Aquarium. An August 18 Leon Valley city council agenda listed "funds in a grant of $200,000" to Bandera Road Holdings.
