Miami-Dade County on Thursday gave the Miami Seaquarium weeks to vacate its government-owned campus after a string of federal inspection reports alleged poor care of animals there.

The notice terminating the Seaquarium’s county lease moves Miami-Dade dramatically closer to ejecting the Seaquarium from its home of nearly 70 years in a rapid escalation of the confrontation between Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the company that took over the for-profit operation in 2022.

“This decision did not come lightly,” Levine Cava said at an afternoon press conference. “But the situation at the Seaquarium is so dire that we believe terminating the lease is the best course of action to assure safety for all.”

In a letter from the mayor’s office Thursday morning, Miami-Dade ordered the Seaquarium to surrender its waterfront property by April 21.

“Lessee’s long and troubling history of violations constitute repeated, continuing longstanding violations of Lessee’s contractual obligations to keep the property in a good state of repair, maintain animals in accordance with applicable law, and comply with all laws,” read the letter from Jimmy Morales, chief operating officer under Levine Cava.