UN LAB Middleware Label: End Names
Houston Interactive Aquarium & Animal Preserve’s incongruous name hides an ugly story – and it’s nothing more than a crime. It’s no secret that this Texas roadside attraction is the latest business of convicted wildlife trader Ammon Covino after the Houston Interactive Aquarium posted over 150 videos online of Covino overseeing the development and construction of the facility. So why did the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant a license to exhibit animals in this filthy aquarium? Your guess is as good as ours.
In addition to Covino’s track record of violating federal wildlife laws, his history in the aquarium business is rife with animal suffering. At the now closed Portland Aquarium in Oregon, owned by Covino and his brother Vince, more than 200 animals have reportedly died in just a few months – allegedly from starvation, infections, and other seemingly preventable causes.
No wild animal wants to be touched by humans, but the Covino family’s ‘interactive’ aquariums encourage guests to poke and nudge sensitive animals like this iguana at Austin’s Aquarium.
Like other Covino aquarium ventures, Houston’s interactive aquarium is all about encouraging kids to hold, poke, and nudge sensitive wildlife that humans would normally avoid. Treating animals as props for display and storytelling is a form arrogance– the erroneous belief that people are more important than other animals.
Alligators naturally traverse kilometers of riverside wetlands and dense swamps. Trapped in this small, shallow pool of the San Antonio Aquarium – another Ammon Covino-related facility – the alligators are overcrowded with little to no swimming.
Since even a conviction for illegal wildlife trade is not enough to convince the USDA to do its job and prevent the exploitation of animals in another Covino aquarium, Kind people like you should stand up for these animals and tell Houston Interactive Aquarium that you will not put up with animal suffering.
Feel free to use our sample letter below, but remember it’s always more effective to use your own words.