A federal inspection report from April 2026 documents what happened inside Houston Interactive Aquarium and Animal Preserve. Contractors left a water line running in an armadillo's enclosure. The enclosure flooded. By the time he was found, he was unresponsive, cold, breathing abnormally, and his skin had turned purple. He survived, but barely.

In the same inspection period, an emu and an ostrich were placed together without a compatibility assessment. The ostrich panicked, crashed into a fence, and sustained a four-inch wound on her chest. She could not bear weight on her leg. Employees did not notify a veterinarian. The federal inspector had to ask whether they had before anyone made the call.

The report also documents otters and kinkajous denied required rabies and distemper vaccines, a cavy with a wound that had never been reported to a veterinarian, employees ignoring enrichment plans for lemurs and two birds named Sammie and Paloma, rodent feces and mold in food preparation areas, expired and rotten food in refrigerators, and enclosures covered in feces with flies too numerous to count.

This is not a facility that made a few mistakes. Houston Interactive Aquarium and Animal Preserve has received 37 citations for alleged Animal Welfare Act violations in under five years. In 2024, the facility received two critical citations after 40 parakeets and an Eclectus parrot escaped through a torn enclosure and were never found. Thirty-seven citations. Animals that disappeared and never came back. And the facility is still open.

The USDA has the authority to revoke exhibitor licenses for repeated and serious Animal Welfare Act violations. That authority exists precisely for situations like this one. We are calling on USDA APHIS to initiate license revocation proceedings against Houston Interactive Aquarium and Animal Preserve. A facility that has accumulated this record does not deserve continued federal authorization to exhibit animals to the public.

We are also calling on the City of Houston to investigate whether this facility meets local health, safety, and business operation standards. Rodent feces and mold in food preparation areas, rotten food in refrigerators, and enclosures swarming with insects are not just animal welfare failures. They are public health concerns for every visitor who walks through the door. The city has independent authority to act and should use it.

Thirty-seven citations in five years is not a pattern of isolated incidents. It is a record of chronic neglect. Sign to demand the USDA and the City of Houston act before more animals are harmed.