'It's directly animal exploitation': Over a dozen former SeaQuest Folsom employees come forward after ABC10 investigation

FOLSOM, Calif. —

“That is a molded parakeet body,” Elle explained as she clicked through her photos on a laptop. 

“She wasn’t eating,” Elle recalled when a picture of a sickly-looking sloth came up. “They still had guests see her like this.”

“This was from [the hedgehog] being stressed out and running with his nose against the glass till it bled,” said Elle.

These animals all live, or lived, inside SeaQuest at the Folsom Palladio.

To the public, SeaQuest is an interactive aquarium and zoo where customers can pet, meet and feed animals face-to-face.

But to Elle and others who worked there: “It’s directly animal exploitation that SeaQuest is profiting from.”

Elle shared photos and provided ABC10 with dozens of internal documents. By doing so, she put herself in a vulnerable position, which is why she asked we protect her identity – so we’ve changed her name for this story. She wanted to come forward to be a voice for the animals. 

“It’s hard. I think about them every day,” Elle said. “It’s something every SeaQuest worker goes through – we’ve all cried together. We’ve all wanted better for the animals we fell in love with and they’re stuck there. They don’t have a voice, so I hope everybody comes together and becomes the voice for them.” 

They did.

After ABC10’s first investigation on SeaQuest Folsom in February, more than a dozen former employees came forward with allegations and records showing how SeaQuest operates. 

“I remember watching and being like, ‘She’s hitting everything. This isn’t some overdramatized thing, this is legit,’” said Elena Driscoll, who worked at SeaQuest from 2018 to 2022.

At the time of publishing this article, ABC10 spoke with 19 former SeaQuest Folsom employees. Eight agreed to be interviewed, including Elle.

Most had similar experiences and accounts, including seeing multiple animals die at SeaQuest. 

“There’s probably well over 1,000 animals and fish that have died since the opening of SeaQuest Folsom,” said Elle.

A thousand animals dead in six years, Elle estimates. SeaQuest opened in Folsom in November 2018. 

ABC10 obtained photos and videos of SeaQuest Folsom animals hurt, sick, dying or dead. The true number that have died under SeaQuest’s watch is unknown, employees say.  

Disclaimer: The following images provided to ABC10 by sources may be difficult to view.

“SeaQuest, as far as I know, never had documents,” said Chris Van Tassel, who worked there from 2018 to 2020. “My manager never asked me to submit anything when I found a dead animal.”

SeaQuest told ABC News they have official documentation for mortalities on-site, but they did not provide an exact number of animals that’ve died at their Folsom location when asked.

As for why animals die at SeaQuest, employees say there’s several reasons.

“The prevention of not letting us take care of them when they needed it,” said Anna Higgins-Davis. She worked on the marine team from 2021-2023.

“A lot of stuff would either get overlooked or seen too late,” said Driscoll.

Employees told ABC10 they did their absolute best for the animals but had restrictions from corporate – like issues with the facility, which they said is unsafe.

Some employees, like Kaitlyn Johnson, worked there when SeaQuest first opened. She recounted a rush to open on Black Friday 2018 as more shoppers would be at the mall.

A converted store isn’t safe for animals, Joaquin Lopez said. He was SeaQuest’s marine manager from 2021-2022.

“When you put up walls and dividers and you don’t change the air conditioning, we would face sometimes OSHA violating temperatures in the summer,” Lopez recalled. 

“I measured the temperature peak summer of 2022 – and it was 108 (inside),” said Higgins-Davis.

Multiple employees noted the paint chipping and animals eating it. Animals at SeaQuest don’t have access to daylight as there’s no windows in the facility. To suffice, the company painted the walls blue and the ground green – but employees noticed it chipping.

Multiple videos provided to ABC10 showed paint chips coming off the ground in animal enclosures.

“[A capybara] was very well known for loving to chew on the paint that came up and chips off the floor,” said Elle. “And this can cause them to get cancerous tumors.”

ABC10 asked SeaQuest about the paint chips. They did not respond.

That’s not all when it came to employees’ concerns about the facility. Small enclosures, tank leaks, open electrical sockets in enclosures, cleanliness issues – these were all serious issues, they said.

“I believe with SeaQuest, all of it stems from the interactive aspect, which is what sets up failure,” said Elle.

CEO Vince Covino and his corporate team push to make more money upselling customers on what’s called “interactions,” employees said.

Interactions are premium experiences where guests can pay to touch and feed an animal. SeaQuest charges $50 for its sloth interaction.

“It’s just that simple, it’s engaging and talking to the guest and showing them the animal. Helping them experience the animal,” Covino said in a video sent to the SeaQuest Folsom team that ABC10 obtained.

“This corporation is run by businesspeople, not animal experts,” said Higgins-Davis. 

Staffers say the company directed all their attention to interactions – leaving no time for basic animal care.

“As soon as 10 a.m. starts (when SeaQuest opens), you immediately go into interactions,” said Elle. “It was hard to find that opening to clean an animal’s enclosure.”

Photos of interaction schedules ABC10 obtained shows back-to-back appointments for SeaQuest animals – interactions scheduled every 15 to 30 minutes, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

SeaQuest previously denied this, saying they adhere to the law in giving “our animals break time equal to the time they spend doing interactions.” Employees disagree.

“90% of the time they weren’t getting fed because there was not enough time or enough staff to do it,” said Driscoll.

Driscoll was so frustrated, she began documenting while at work.

“I want to show you something. This is from yesterday,” Driscoll said holding up a nearly full container of greens for the rabbit in a video shot on her cell phone. “She’s supposed to eat all of this, or they’re at least supposed to feed it out to her at night. Guess what they didn’t do last night? Feed it out to her – which means she got barely a third of her diet all day yesterday. I’m pissed.” 

In another video, Driscoll goes through the fridge showing full Tupperware of food for different animals who were not fed.   

“This is from yesterday – our iguanas are supposed to eat all of this. Our baby torts are supposed to eat all of this. Our baby sloths only got about half of their diet,” Driscoll said in the video. 

Some employees said at one point, management told them to stop feeding animals to book even more interactions.

“’Okay, you’re not allowed to feed any of the animals anymore. It strictly needs to be just what people are paying for,’” Johnson recalled. “So now people had to pay to feed every single creature that was in there.”

“And then you’re watching animals not eat because they’re being partially starved due to you can only interact with guest feedings,” said Higgins-Davis.

“So, we went through a period in time where the sharks started to try to eat the stingrays,” said Van Tassel.

“It happened with the otters too, they started eating fish in their tank,” said Olivia Deleonardis, who worked there from 2020-2021.

“Then our sloths would literally cling onto the door that would open to the guests because they were so hungry,” said Driscoll.

Internal messages and a photo given to ABC10 show a fish bitten in half by a hungry shark.

SeaQuest did not respond to ABC10’s questions about withholding food from animals for paying customers only.

Out of all the employees ABC10 spoke with, Aaron Athey – who worked at SeaQuest until 2019 – was the only one who said interactions were not forced. 

“But she (a sloth) would come out because we would present her with celery and carrot sticks and she would come out just to eat those,” Athey said. “Nothing was forced.”

Other employees disagreed, saying Athey worked there when SeaQuest first opened and things got worse after he left.

Elena Driscoll says in SeaQuest's earlier years she was thankful to work with some very knowledgeable employees with degrees which helped them care for the animals.  

“I got really lucky because I did have Aaron. Aaron has got a lot of zoology background and animal training. We had two (other) amazing people who came from Moorpark, which is an animal training school,” said Driscoll. “But after they left (SeaQuest) – they were really big voices of advocates for us to help us get what we needed – it just kept going downhill.” 

“We would get a write up if we personally were feeding one of the animals without a guest in there interacting with them,” Elle said. 

Employees said they realized SeaQuest’s corporate team didn’t care about the animals like they did.

“That was the first time we all realized, ‘Okay. They’re here for the money,’” said Johnson of SeaQuest management.

Another issue was having no quarantine system when SeaQuest opened, multiple employees explained.

“Which is a big no-no for any aquarium,” said Johnson.

Animals should always be kept quarantined for a period before being introduced to a new tank or enclosure, other animals and SeaQuest customers, employees said. This practice ensures the animals have time to adjust to their new environment and allows any parasites to die off.

Quarantining also provides an opportunity for employees to properly inspect and treat animals for any possible parasites and health issues, employees said, and that introducing new animals without this precaution can compromise the safety and health of other animals at SeaQuest, as well as customers. 

“Because they wouldn’t bother with quarantine, you would then infect the entire tank. But then children and parents are sticking their hands in that tank – and then taking their contaminated hands to another tank,” said Higgins-Davis. “Next thing you know, the whole aquarium has parasites.” 

“Our remaining glass frog passed away” that “has been struggling with parasites,” an internal SeaQuest Folsom message ABC10 obtained said. Videos and photos show the dead frog, as well as fish and crabs with parasites.

It’s why employees fought for a quarantine system.

Employees like Van Tassel and Johnson said they worked for hours, days and weeks to get a “pitiful excuse” of a quarantine system that consisted of placing fish, sharks and stingrays in five-gallon buckets.

ABC10 obtained footage showing how several animals were kept in SeaQuest back rooms, including otters, Bengal cats, a black-throated monitor, sting rays and turtles. The cages/enclosures were much too small for these animals, employees said.

"Most of them (the quarantined fish) never went back to their habitats,” said Johnson. “They ended up dying in the quarantine.”

Johnson believes they died because their enclosures were far too small. Video of stingrays in five-gallon buckets shows they had no space to swim or move. 

“We went to management,” recalled Johnson. “We said, ‘Go lock yourself in the bathroom that’s about two-by-two. That’s what you’re putting the sharks in.’”

SeaQuest told ABC News “each location has dedicated veterinary team members who do walk-throughs of all exhibits and enclosures.” But some employees said when animals got sick, SeaQuest management instructed them to do in-house treatment.

Some employees ABC10 spoke with, like Athey and Higgins-Davis, have degrees in zoology and marine biology. Others are hired with no animal experience. 

“It was my first job working with animals,” said DeLeonardis. “SeaQuest seemed like a good place to get started and I feel like they (corporate/management) totally take advantage of people not knowing that stuff when they enter it."

Internal messages provided to ABC10 show team members figuring out how to treat birds for bumblefoot – a common bacterial infection – from a Wikipedia article.

Doing in-house treatment saved SeaQuest time and money, Elle said. 

“Because if a person had to go take this animal to the vet, they’re losing a team member on the floor to do other SeaQuest things such as sell interactions,” said Elle. 

If an animal did go to a vet, it was often too late – like for Mango, a toucan with Iron poisoning, Driscoll said.

“A few hours later (we) ended up finding out that he just wasn’t going to make it,” Driscoll said. “Ended up euthanizing him.”

ABC10 obtained veterinarian records showing SeaQuest animals arrived at the vet with high temperatures, dehydration, pinworms, anorexia and stress.

When animals like parakeets and fish died, employees said they were told to do the necropsy – or animal autopsy – themselves.

SeaQuest told ABC News necropsies are “performed by trained experts” but did not answer any of ABC10’s questions about staff performing them.

“We don’t know what we’re looking for,” said Johnson. “We were told to watch a YouTube video.”

Higgins-Davis, who has a degree in marine biology and training on necropsies, was shocked by SeaQuest's practices.

“There was no formal report, it would just be letting the higher ups know that this animal died (like), ‘Here’s a possible cause based off of the limited knowledge anyone who was sending the report,’ (and) there were some team members who knew absolutely nothing for what to look for,” Higgins-Davis said. “So, there'd be a parasite outbreak that wouldn’t be found until certain people did necropsies.”

Higgins-Davis alleges at one-point SeaQuest management stopped allowing her to do necropsies, despite her being one of the few with the educational background to do so.

“It would have to be a supervisor or manager only because they were concerned about certain information getting out,” said Higgins-Davis. “I was told that if they had absolutely nobody else to do it... I was to do it because they knew I was capable. I was to send them everything, send them all my notes, and then – in front of them – delete everything.” 

After fish necropsies, employees like Johnson and Van Tassel recalled management telling them “if everything looks fine, give it to the otters.”

“Which isn’t a good thing because of our quarantine system,” Van Tassel explained. “We don’t know what parasites those fish might have had. Now we’re feeding it to something else.” 

Not all employees ABC10 spoke with experienced this. Some were shocked by it. All agreed this is not a normal procedure at any animal facility.

Photos of molded parakeet bodies given to ABC10 show when some animals died at SeaQuest Folsom, they were left to rot.

A June 2023 employee complaint to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – the agency tasked with regulating SeaQuest – said animals in SeaQuest’s mortality fridge, where dead bodies are kept, had been there for six months. Bodies had molded and smelled, the complaint said, and SeaQuest “rarely properly” disposed of bodies.

“The molding animals such as parakeets and frogs that are in the mortality fridge are next to old fecal matter samples spilling out of the sample tubes next to the molded deceased bodies that are making the fridge smell with rot in the same area/room next to quarantined live animals such as the recently bought baby capybara,” the complaint said.

The USDA deemed the complaint unsubstantiated saying a veterinary medical officer conducted an unannounced visit and that “many of the items in the complaint are not requirements under the Animal Welfare Act.”

ABC10 obtained footage of SeaQuest’s mortality fridge – the fridge was filled to the brim.

SeaQuest did not answer any of our questions about their mortality fridge or disposal of dead animals.

“We’re not supposed to tell anyone that anything died,” said Johnson. “If something is deceased in a tank, pretend it’s alive, and then we’ll just go get a new one.” 

So, where exactly does SeaQuest get new animals from?

SeaQuest says it gets its animals from rescues and donations – which records ABC10 obtained show can be true – as well as “acquisition of surplus animals from other zoos and aquariums” and “reputable breeders.”

Employees say there’s more to it. There are a lot of places SeaQuest gets animals from, they said.

“Most of the fish come from regular fish importers,” Lopez said. “A majority of them are wild caught.”

“We got a lot of our reptiles from the reptile expo,” said Athey.

“Also Pet Smart. I went and got a lot,” said Johnson. “And the Food Mart.” 

A Food Mart as well as the 99 Ranch Market in Folsom. Both supermarkets carry live seafood. It's where Johnson said she was sent to get crabs, catfish, trout and shrimp.

“We’d go in normal clothes and stuff so no one that’s there could be like, ‘Oh something weird is going on there,’” said Johnson.

Records show animals were sent from other SeaQuest locations that were shut down, like otters from Littleton, Colorado where the SeaQuest closed after numerous citations and complaints.

Other times, employees had no idea where animals came from.

“Like baby animals coming onto site and we’d question, ‘Where are these babies coming from?’” said Higgins-Davis.

“I realized things that management is telling me is not true,” said Deleonardis. “And I’m giving false information to customers. When I started not doing that, that’s when I started getting in trouble.”

“But the story is that [the animals] are rescued,” said Driscoll. “And we’re rehabilitating them and rehoming them.”

Yet, in a video ABC10 obtained, CEO Covino encouraged the SeaQuest Folsom team to place their orders with him for animals. 

“We are putting in a big order for animals for your site over the next couple of days,” said Covino. “If there’s animals that are missing from your animal inventory report, or you feel are missing from an exhibit, please send me a message.”

SeaQuest did not respond to ABC10’s questions about where they get animals from. 

“They just order them,” said Elle. 

“When you have an inadequate system and you’re causing death all the time – one of the regular things that SeaQuest was (doing was) pretty much spending $2,000 to $3,000 to $5,000 on sea life pretty much every month just to replace the stocks,” said Lopez. “Vince (Covino)’s thing was more and more and more.” 

More animals. More interactions. More money. 

“SeaQuest easily saw 500 people a day – up to 1,000 people a day,” said Lopez. “And you’d have what? 18 people working in the building.”

“At one point there was 1,700 people in the building,” said Higgins-Davis.

SeaQuest told ABC News “direct interactions are a superb source of enrichment for our animals and allow our guests to develop a deeper connection with wildlife and the wonders of our planet.” 

Employees say it’s not enriching for the animals, it’s harmful.

“The animals are getting stressed because that room would be filled to the brim with people,” said Deleonardis. 

“And so loud,” added Driscoll.

Employees provided ABC10 with multiple videos of animals appearing stressed during and after interactions. 

By law, animals must have breaks from interactions. SeaQuest previously told ABC News they give “animals break time equal to the time they spend doing interactions.” Some employees say that’s not true, especially when it’s busy, animals got no breaks.

“You just write them down like you did them,” said Driscoll. “They’re not really ever checked.” 

“I worked there for four months before they told me that we were allowed to give animals breaks,” said Deleonardis. “They did not tell me we were allowed to give animals breaks. They were just having me do [interactions] back to back to back to back.” 

When animals get stressed, like humans, they lash out. ABC10 obtained multiple incident reports of guests and employees being bitten and scratched. 

But Elle said if an animals hurts someone, SeaQuest has a rule: After three incidents, the animal is euthanized.

“So that’s why a lot of bites go undocumented by employees,” said Elle.

It’s one of many ways employees try to protect animals at SeaQuest Folsom. Internal messages provided to ABC10 show employees sounding the alarm to management over and over again. 

“I have some major concerns about guest feedings,” one employee wrote to SeaQuest’s head of human resources.

I “keep telling management and they don’t seem to care,” another employee messaged in the SeaQuest work group, when they noticed a sloth’s uneven pupils. 

“We have a lot of animals that need our care and attention. When we are able to start one of our daily tasks only to get pulled away from it to do interactions, it makes it frustrating,” another employee wrote in a message to their team. “I know that I have voiced my concerns many times and all of it goes unanswered. Or completely ignored.” 

Higgins-Davis sent a three-page letter directly to CEO Covino detailing her many concerns. She said she never heard back. 

In just three months in 2023, records show three separate employees sent complaints to the USDA. 

Two complaints – including the one highlighting concerns about SeaQuest’s mortality fridge – were deemed unsubstantiated. The third was deemed “partially substantiated” due to the sloth’s humidity levels being too low. Several issues the complaint highlighted – like “screaming children, peeling paint, unappealing enclosures or visual barriers for Bengal cats” are not covered by the Animal Welfare Act, the complaint said. Therefore, USDA does not investigate.

“It’s painful,” said Elle of trying to stand up for animals at SeaQuest. “It’s like watching helplessly the thing you love most in the world be ignored.”

Employees said they'd become the scapegoat when they tried to speak up.

“I found Rex (a black throat monitor) cold and dead. I also got a write up for no other reason except that she was already dead,” said Athey. “Somehow, I got in trouble for an animal having that happen to her.”

“That’s not too uncommon for SeaQuest,” replied Van Tassel. “You did something wrong – no matter how much you fought for their well-being and cared.”

It’s not just animals that suffer at SeaQuest, employees say they do too. 

“At one point, I had woken up to get ready for work and contemplated whether or not continuing to live was an option,” said Higgins-Davis. “Because I hated it so much.” 

“Here I am, years later, having nightmares of my time (working there),” said Elle. “Nightmares of people kicking parakeets to where their heads are on backwards.”

Employees have suffered mentally, emotionally and physically.

“I have really bad lung disease because of ozone poisoning which happened from the ozone machines not being put in correctly,” said Johnson.

These machines are often used to clean aquarium tank water. Ozone is a gas molecule that can “aggressively attack lung tissues” if breathed in, the American Lung Association states.

“It was leaking the whole time,” said Johnson of her time working there.

Johnson’s medical records show she inhaled ozone for nine hours a day over six months. 

“I was coughing up blood and parts of my lungs quite often,” said Johnson. 

She still suffers from it and she says she’s not the only one.

An internal incident report ABC10 obtained shows another employee reported “ozone exposure,” saying they had “constant nausea” since starting work at SeaQuest. 

“A lot of us stayed so long because we love these animals,” said Deleonardis.

They stayed as long as they could for the animals. Now, they’re speaking for them – hoping this will change the way SeaQuest operates.

“Unfortunately, right now with a bunch of the wildlife laws, SeaQuest wins,” said Van Tassel.

Employees have reported issues to the agency regulating SeaQuest, USDA, multiple times. Most issues were deemed unsubstantiated or outside of USDA’s regulatory requirements by not being within the Animal Welfare Act, allowing SeaQuest to continue to operate the same. 

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is also entrusted in overseeing and permitting certain animals at SeaQuest. The agency told ABC10 in April they had 26 animals permitted there. They said after complaints, the agency did an unannounced inspection of SeaQuest in October 2023 and found no citation violations.

Employees have told ABC10 the state agency is only responsible for a small percentage of animals at SeaQuest. Many animals, like fish and reptiles, have no regulations, sources said.

“So it’s up to us – and the guests coming to visit – to fight back,” said Van Tassel. “We need our voices heard.”

Heard especially by customers, employees said.

“Seeing people line up – a thousand in front of the shop – doesn’t give you a lot of faith in the public,” said Lopez. 

“We have to all be the voice for these animals more than anything because SeaQuest needs to be shut down,” said Elle. 

ABC10 reached out to SeaQuest with over a dozen questions. The company did not provide answers to the questions, instead they referred us to the FAQ section of their website.

Within the week prior to publishing this story, SeaQuest Folsom responded to customers on Google reviews telling them there's been a "spread of misinformation" and to "not believe everything you hear on the news."

ABC10 asked SeaQuest why they're telling customers this, when they didn't respond to questions regarding the allegations brought forward by former employees - SeaQuest, again, never responded.

WATCH OUR INITIAL INVESTIGATION HERE: Investigating SeaQuest | ABC10 Originals

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