Ta-ta Lolita: Killer whale set to be released back into ocean after 5 'miserable' decades in captivity
MIAMI, FLORDIA: A plan to return Lolita the Orca to her "home waters" to live out the remainder of her days was unveiled on Thursday, more than 50 years after she was captured from the Pacific Ocean. She has been kept at the Miami Seaquarium through the decades ever since. At a news conference on Thursday, the Miami Seaquarium, Friends of Lolita, a nonprofit organization in Florida, and Jim Irsay, philanthropist and owner of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, revealed Lolita might be freed soon.
Lolita, a southern resident orca also known as Tokitae, was captured from Washington State's waters in 1970 at the age of four or five. The oldest captive orca, she is thought to be around 57 years old, as reported by NBC.
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After developing health problems in recent years, Lolita was removed from the Miami Seaquarium's whale stadium by MS Leisure, the firm that later acquired the facility. Lolita weighed about 7,000 pounds. Daniella Levine Cava, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, expressed her optimism at the time that "this transfer of ownership will usher in an era of accountability," as per reports.
An endangered species
An unbiased evaluation conducted in June revealed that Lolita's condition has improved. According to NOAA Fisheries, the US department in charge of the stewardship of the nation's ocean resources and their ecosystems, southern resident orcas spend several months of the summer and fall each year in Washington state's Puget Sound. They were placed on the endangered species list in 2005.
According to its website, the population of southern residents has "fluctuated considerably" during the 1970s, with pods "reduced during 1965-75 because of captures for marine parks." It claims the population peaked at 97 whales in 1996 before decreasing once again to 79 in 2001, noting that as of around August, the population numbered in the 70s. The population was 71 whales in 1974, the first year individual animals were tallied. For years, advocates for animal rights have pushed for Lolita to be returned to her pod in Puget Sound, with organizations, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, suing the Seaquarium over her confinement.
'There will be cheers'
Jared Goodman, vice president and general counsel for animal law at the PETA Foundation, made this declaration in a statement on Tuesday, "If Lolita is finally returned to her home waters, there will be cheers from around the world, including from PETA, which has pursued several lawsuits on Lolita's behalf and battered the Seaquarium with protests demanding her freedom for years," as per reports.
'Relief after five miserable decades'
The statement added, "If the Seaquarium agrees to move her, it'll offer her long-awaited relief after five miserable decades in a cramped tank and send a clear signal to other parks that the days of confining highly intelligent, far-ranging marine mammals to dismal prisons are done and dusted," as reported by Dailystar.