Florida’s Stolen Wildlife

Public outcry poured in after a video of an endangered giant manta ray being captured off Panama City Beach went viral in July 2025. Viewers were shocked that the protected species was legally obtained by Dynasty Marine Associates under a permit for SeaWorld Abu Dhabi.  

A former SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment (now known as United Parksand Entertainment) employee and animal behavior specialist gives insight into what happens behind the scenes between “exemplar” animal attractions and Florida. “I actually have spent over 10 years in the wildlife behavior industry,” Rachel Hale reflected. “I made my eight-year-old self proud by forging the career path that I did, but now it's time to make my 80-year-old self proud by highlighting what needs to progress and change.” 

First and foremost,“the loopholes that allow the sanctioned capture and exhibition of endangered and threatened wildlife from Florida waters has to stop.” 

Hale explained that one of the core issues behind the giant manta capture lies in the loophole between global and U.S. protections. “The ‘gold standard’ for population conservation falls under the IUCN,” she said, referring to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The IUCN lists giant manta rays as endangered with declining populations worldwide. But in the United States, NOAA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services list mantas only as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a weaker category. Hale noted that “there needs to be more intensive population studies on Mantas in U.S. waters” as efforts to upgrade their ESA status have repeatedly stalled. 

Manta rays are also listed on Appendix II of CITES, the international treaty regulating wildlife trade. That means they can still be exported as long asthe paperwork is in place. “They technically do not have this full protection of an endangered species under the ESA,” Hale explained. “It enables them to be exported and traded globally in the aquarium industry.” The only way to close that loophole would be a NOAA-issued 4(d) rule - a species-specific ban or restriction on harmful activities - but that process can take years. 

Florida has become a hub for this trade because the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issues Special Activity Licenses, or SALs, that authorize the capture and export of manta rays. And because rays and fish are excluded from the federal Animal Welfare Act, they lack another layer of safeguards afforded to marine mammals or terrestrial animals. 

What Hale and a team of other advocates uncovered when they began reviewing SALs was even more disturbing. “Our initial request was just for SALs that included manta rays, but within those SALs, we found dozens of other threatened and endangered animals that are being taken from Florida waters; over 200 animals totaling 11 species so far,” she said. She was unsettled to find a single permit for a previous SeaWorld Abu Dhabi manta also allowed the capture of 13 critically endangered hammerhead sharks.  

Hale also noted that because a license is considered complete only when a live animal arrives at its destination; any animals that die along the way aren’t counted. She added “We would like to know what the death rate is for these animals at Dynasty’s facility in Florida prior to transport.” However, because those numbers aren’t reported, there is no way to know how many.  

This deception spreads beyond the collecting of marine animals in Florida waters and into the enclosures they are held in globally. Hale pointed to what she called deep conflicts of interest in the zoo and aquarium industry. “The global standard of zoological care is managed by AZA,” she said, referring to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. “Dynasty Marine is the sole AZA accredited commercial aquarium supplier in the world. So any zoo or aquarium that wants to maintain good standing with AZA will likely utilize Dynasty Marine for these captures. Most, if not all of these animals are thus coming out of Florida and Caribbean waters.”  

“They’ve absolutely monopolized the market,” Hale said, underscoring the lack of independent oversight. That problem is compounded by industry leadership overlap. Dr. Chris Dold is the chair-elect of AZA as well as the chief zoological officer and presiding veterinarian over all SeaWorld parks and entertainment, giving him oversight over SeaWorld Abu Dhabi. The result is a troubling absence of accountability. “Who is actually checking and balancing the health and welfare of this manta that was caught and shipped to the Middle East?” 

For Hale, the issue goes beyond legal loopholes and dives into questions of integrity. “How hypocritical of an organization that roots itself in ‘conservation’ to come and take these critically endangered animals from their habitat?”  

She recounts a time when working in similar agencies forced her to reflect on her lifelong goals: “Growing up in the industry, it was so hard to see some of these realities. I'll never forget when I was struggling in the zoo I worked at, my mom said, ‘Rachel, at what point do you wake up and realize that the dream that you had is not the reality that's in front of you?’ It was a hard pill to swallow, even though I knew what I did was for the betterment of the animalsevery single day, there were decisions being made above me with not only the organization, but government organizations as well.” Hale knew she had to leave to create real impact and change.  

Her story is one she says is shared among the animal entertainment community; careful framing and marketing can deceive even the people within the industry. “These major organizations have strongly developed teams that their entire job is to figure out a way to spin what they're doing as conservation,” Hale shared. “It'svery difficult to see through their veil of what's going on behind the scenes. I wanted to believe it's for the better.” 

Hale emphasized that she is not opposed to captivity outright, acknowledging that zoos and aquariums have contributed to legitimate conservation successes. “I am not anti-captivity, but I'm pro accountability.”  

Florida remains the only state that permits manta ray captures, something Hale attributes to a combination of factors: the availability of species, FWC’s willingness to issue licenses, and lobbying by Dynasty Marine, which has monopolized the industry as the sole AZA-accredited collector. Although the state has temporarily suspended new licenses, Hale and other advocates see that as just a pause. Their petition demands immediate reform, pressing the FWC to place a permanent ban on exhibition permits for all threatened and endangered marine species at its November meeting. 

Hale stressed that public involvement is critical to keeping the pressure on. Signing and sharing the petition is one step, but she also urged Floridians to attend FWC’s November meeting to ensure the issue isn’t buried under other agenda items. True change, she added, must happen on two levels: industry and regulation. SeaWorld, she argued, should be “ashamed” of its role, but regulators must also close the loopholes that allow Dynasty or any other operator to continue profiting from endangered species. 

Whether SeaWorld will return the captured manta remains uncertain, but Hale insists it’s possible, “we won’t know until we try.” Researchers have confirmed there is no biological reason the animal could not be released. 

The manta ray capture became significant not because it was the first of its kind, but because the world saw it happen. That visibility is what gave advocates, lawyers, and lawmakers the leverage to finally challenge the “barbaric practices that are still happening in modern zoos and aquariums.” 

To sign the petition, visit https://www.change.org/p/return-florida-s-stolen-manta-hailmanta-freethemanta.