Lolita was between six and seven years old when she was captured in Pen Cove, Whidbey Island, in Washington State, USA, on August 8, 1970. Her captors were Ted Griffin of the Seattle Aquarium and Sea World’s Don Goldsberry. Using speedboats and explosives, they rounded up 80 orcas that day. Four young orcas were killed during the capture: Trapped in the capture net, they were unable to reach the surface to breathe and suffocated. Three of the dead whales washed ashore a few months after the capture. Their bellies had been slit open and filled with rocks, and their tails had been weighted with anchors and chains, in an attempt to conceal the deaths from the public and the media. The seven orcas that were captured alive were forced into slings and driven away in awaiting trucks. Some would be sent to aquaria as far away as Japan, Europe, and Australia. They would never see their family members or their ocean world again. Six of the seven captured whales survived an average of five years after their capture.
Lolita was sold to the Miami Seaquarium in Florida. The only survivor of the ill-fated capture expedition, Lolita is advertised at the Miami Seaquarium as “Miami’s number one attraction.” She is made to perform cicus tricks for huge paying audiences several times a day, and in between shows can be seen languishing on the surface of the water. Lolita spends most of her time alone.
Lolita facts:
Lolita has spent 33 years in captivity.
She has spent the last 23 yeas deprived of the company of her own kind.
For the last many years, Lolita’s only companions have been Pacific white-sided dolphins that share her inadequate and shallow tank.
Lolita is confined in the oldest and smallest orca tank in the United States.
Lolita’s free pod members swim up to 100 miles per day. In comparison, Lolita’s actual living space is 28 by 68 feet.
Lolita is the oldest orca in captivity today.
Some of Lolita’s family members that escaped the capture back in 1970 are still alive today.
The Miami Seaquarium refuses to let Lolita reunite with her family. At some point, in an attempt to ease her boredom and loneliness, Miami Seaquarium staff gave her an inflatable plastic whale to “interact” with.
Several proposals have been presented to the Miami Seaquarium to let Lolita return to her home waters, but the Miami Seaquarium won’t let her go.
The Dolphin Project is calling for the rescue of Lolita
Photo by Ric O'Barry
Our recommendations:
We recommend that Lolita finally be taken out of the substandard tank she has been confined in for decades and introduced to a large sea pen in her home waters in Puget Sound. Here, she can once again experience the natural rhythms of the sea, the tides and the currents and be free from human exploitation. Once she is in the sea pen, she can be properly evaluated for release back into the wild.
You’ll find additional information here:
http://www.miamiseaprison.com/index.htm
http://www.orcanetwork.org/captivity/captivity.html
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