Sloth Bit Guest In Roseville, PETA Says In Complaint Over SeaQuest

ROSEVILLE, MN — The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Monday filed a complaint and asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate SeaQuest "for unfair business practices."

PETA claims that members of the public — including in Roseville — have been bitten and injured at the aquarium chain.

According to its website, SeaQuest offers "hands-on activities which include hand-feeding sharks, stingrays, birds, and tropical animals."

PETA said a sloth bit a guest at SeaQuest-Roseville on July 1, 2019. "Flash, a two-toed sloth, bit a guest during an encounter," the complaint reads.

As a result of the bite, the Minnesota Department of Health quarantined the animal for 30 days over rabies transmission concerns, according to the complaint.

The Roseville facility has also diagnosed a capybara and a coati with ringworm, a bird with chlamydia, and wallabies with toxoplasmosis, PETA said, noting that the diseases could be transmitted to guests.

"SeaQuest’s animal encounters have caused significant physical injury to an unsuspecting public, thereby violating the FTC Act’s prohibition on unfair trade practices," PETA's Michelle Sinnott said in a news release.

"PETA is calling on the government to act before another person is wounded or worse at these facilities, which are ticking time bombs."

The FTC confirmed to Patch that it received the complaint, but a spokesman said the agency does not publicly comment on them.

Read PETA's entire complaint against SeaQuest here.

Patch has reached out to SeaQuest for comment.