On the 8th of August, 1970, a large pod of orca were herded into Penn Cove, where, over the course of a week, seven killer whales were captured and sold to aquariums around the world.
One of these whales was Tokitae (meaning "Beautiful Day") who is now known as Lolita. She has resided at Miami Seaquarium for 30 years in the country's oldest and smallest tank.
Her tank is the size of a hotel swimming pool - making it illegal in size. She is 22 feet long but the tank is just 35 feet wide. When she 'sits up' and spyhops, her tail touches the bottom of the 20 foot deep tank.
Wild orcas swim 100 miles per day at up to 35 miles an hour, diving 500 feet below the surface. Lolita can only swim in circles.
Wild orcas stay with their families for LIFE -- but Lolita has not gotten to see another orca in more than 30 years. Her old companion, Hugo, died after 12 years in captivity, from repeatedly hitting his head against the tank walls.
There are efforts underway to free Lolita and return her to her family. Orca Network located on Whidbey Island in Washington state, along with Ocean Futures, the group involved with Keiko’s release, have been tirelessly attempting to secure Lolita’s release.
Arthur Hertz, the owner of Miami Seaquarium, will not discuss the issue.
Meanwhile Lolita still speaks the dialect of her family, L pod, who are waiting for her return to the Pacific Northwest.
Join this advocacy by clicking here.
1 Comments
Wow that's really crazy... but I was most surprised about the whale dialects. I've always wondered if the same species of animals in different countries have different ways of communicating (like humans do). How do they know that whales have dialects?? I'm super curious!
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