The mermaid House in Boca Raton, Florida, will close on March 17 after the owner decided to sell the property to another private owner.
The house was owned by the National Mermaids, a nonprofit organization that promotes mermaids.
The National Mermouths website says the organization “has been involved in the conservation of mermaid habitat since the 1930s.”
According to the nonprofit, the mermaid home is owned by “the very best of merpeople,” and the owner was planning to retire and sell the home in 2018.
The website says, “The family of the merpeople is deeply grateful for their continued support, dedication and expertise.”
The website also says the family plans to sell “an iconic piece of property, which will serve as an inspiration to the next generation of merfolk.”
But there is a catch: The merfolk house was not supposed to be closed for the next 20 years.
On March 17, the house’s owner made a request to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to remove all of the plants and animals from the property.
The request is still pending.
The Florida Department said in a statement that “due to environmental issues” the facility was closed.
The Department said it will be reviewing the request.
What’s next?
The National Mermaids is the only group that owns the property, and the Florida State Department of Agriculture said in March that it will review the request for the closure.
A Florida Department spokesperson said that the request will be reviewed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and that the agency will determine whether to grant the request to keep the property closed.
This isn’t the first time the Florida Mermaids has had trouble with its facility.
In 2016, the Florida DNR asked the National Mermaid’s to move its headquarters from a building that is a state-owned facility in Tallahassee to a state facility in Fort Lauderdale.
The DNR also cited a lack of space for staff at the National mermaid’s in Fort Myers, Florida.
