The parents of an Austin girl have sued the Austin Aquarium, claiming a lemur bit her in December while she was visiting the facility, which was cited in a USDA report months earlier for having an insufficient barrier around the lemur and other enclosures.

The girl was not seriously injured by the bite to her left hand during an educational tour. But the suit claims aquarium staff originally told the parents that the animal had been vaccinated, but later reported that it had not.

As a result, Vikas and Sarah Dumra spent thousands in medical bills trying to determine whether their daughter’s health was at risk, according to the suit.

"At first, we were told absolutely the animal is vaccinated, and we got emails from them indicating so. And then the tune changed, the story changed, that the animal isn't vaccinated,” Vikas Dumra, the girl’s father, said.

It's unclear exactly how the bite occurred. Officials with the aquarium, which has at times been a source of controversy and scrutiny since opening six years ago, did not return phone calls or an email to the American-Statesman seeking comment Tuesday.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the aquarium has five lemurs; two mountain coati, a relative of the raccoon; nine rabbits; and two kinkajous, another raccoon relative native to the tropical forests of Central and South America. After a routine inspection Sept. 13, an Agriculture Department veterinarian reported, among other things, that the lemur enclosure lacked a barrier that would keep the public from touching the animals.

"There is enough space between and under the rails that would allow a small child to slip thru [sic] the fence and possibly contact the animals," she wrote. "A barrier must be present between the primary enclosure and the public at any time the public is present that restricts physical contact between the public and the nonhuman primates."

She raised a similar concern about the enclosure housing the coati. The aquarium was given until Sept. 20 to correct the problems. But it wasn't immediately clear from documents on the USDA's website whether the issues were satisfactorily addressed.

After the bite, aquarium officials sent the Dumra family an email that accused the girl of violating rules requiring participants to remain seated and not grab the animals.

The company wrote that Austin/Travis County Animal Control, which was notified of the bite by the Dumras, ordered the lemur quarantined for 30 days, which “not only ruins the trust developed over months between keeper and lemur, but also confuses the hierarchy within the troop.”

According to the Dumras' suit, the facility in Northwest Austin off U.S. 183 exhibits a wide variety of amphibians and birds, a variety of cold water and tropical fish, including sharks and stingrays, as well as many reptiles, ring-tailed lemurs and other wild exotic creatures.

“Defendants encourage invitees to hand-feed sharks, rays, birds and fish and to get up close and personal with their kangaroos and lemurs,” the suit said. It claims the facility was negligent and was not “reasonably safe” for guests. It also said officials failed to train employees in preventing dangerous conditions and warn visitors of possible dangers.

The suit seeks up to $200,000 in damages.

The aquarium has sparked concern since opening in 2013. Unlike the public, nonprofit National Aquarium in Baltimore or the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi, the Austin Aquarium is a for-profit venture that does not appear on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ current list of accredited facilities. As it opened, Ammon Covino, who designed and built the Austin Aquarium, was sentenced in Florida to a year and a day in prison for illegally shipping protected animals to the Idaho Aquarium.

Various groups, including PETA, have denounced the facility, citing animal treatment.