Animal activists have accused a controversial petting zoo in a New Jersey mall of pulling a secret sloth swap — replacing “Flash” with a furry doppelgänger of the same name after his untimely demise.
Patrons and the public were kept in the dark after the arboreal died in December at SeaQuest in Woodbridge Center, activists said.
“There was a sloth that was delivered to the facility and it died. But it was miraculously replaced by a new sloth which they told the public was the same sloth,” one angry activist told The Post. “They are interchangeable. One dies and miraculously a new one shows up … they never die.”
Another protester, in a now-deleted Facebook post, taunted SeaQuest CEO Vince Covino: “What happened to your first sloth that came in on its death bed to SeaQuest in Woodbridge, NJ? That’s right folks, flash is the SECOND sloth at Woodbridge – the first one DIED in early December and THEY HID THIS FROM THE PUBLIC AND GOT A FREE REPLACEMENT. Vince – we have proof.”
The purported proof involves a meeting in which a man sources identify as Covino notes that a sloth at Woodbridge had died and a new one would be on the way.
Covino refused to comment on the sloth-swipe allegation, saying only, “As is typical in our industry, we don’t publicize medical records of our animals outside of regulatory bodies, our vet team, and local and national husbandry teams.”
A Post reporter and photographer eyed the oddly active Flash the sloth on Feb. 14.
The Woodbridge mammal mystery is not the first sloth-gate to erupt at a SeaQuest facility.
An animal manager at a Littleton, Co. SeaQuest was accused of neglecting a sloth that twice burned its face on a heat lamp in 2018. In both cases, SeaQuest workers failed to notify a veterinarian about the injuries, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife report found, according to the Denver Post.
Ashleigh Belfiore, a bird, reptile and mammal manager at SeaQuest Littleton, was cleared at trial last year of misdemeanor charges relating to the burns.
Ever since SeaQuest opened its New Jersey location in November, animal rights activists have been protesting every weekend outside Woodbridge Center.
“Animals do not belong in a mall,” fumed Whitney Malin, of South Orange, N.J., who started an online petition that has garnered 15,000 signatures to shutter the facility. “These aren’t toys. They are exploiting animals for entertainment to make money.”
The zoo operates under permits from the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. Covino has been condemned for conditions at his eight other SeaQuest locations across the nation.
— New York Post to nypost.com