News Archives

February, 2002

A whale's tale: set Lolita free!

Tokitae, translated as "shimmering water", may be better known by her stage name, Lolita. But many still remember that this performing "killer whale" was once a wild orca swimming deftly through the midnight blue waters off the coast of Washington state. Since her capture in 1970, Lolita has been the star attraction and a major source of income for the Miami Seaquarium. Lately though, she has taken center stage in a far different arena: the growing controversy over keeping intelligent marine mammals in captivity.

Orcas survive only an average of nine years in captivity. This, along with the fact that she is living in the oldest and smallest orca tank in the U.S, means that the clock is ticking for Lolita. Unfortunately, Lolita's owners refuse to consider arguments in support of retiring her from the rigors of her twice-daily performances. The Seaquarium's refusal to place Lolita's welfare above their own economic interests has compelled WSPA to join the Orca Network and the legions of Lolita supporters around the world in calling for the orca's immediate retirement. Some experts even believe that Lolita is a good candidate for eventual release.

Orcas, also called killer whales, are actually not whales at all, but are part of the dolphin family. While we know that an orca's brain is four to five times larger than a human's, no one knows for sure how far back an orca's memory goes. One thing is certain - - if Lolita could remember the day of her capture, she would vividly recall the frightening rumble of the speedboats and the assault from explosives used to round up her family, the terrified cries of her pod mates, the rough handling and shouting of the men taking her captive, and the last mournful call from her mother that she would ever hear.

On that fateful day, amid the chaos of her capture, five members of Lolita's pod were killed, including one mother who drowned in the nets while trying desperately to reach her baby. Lolita, believed to be only six years old at the time of her capture in August 1970, would have been swimming close to her mother's side when the brutal chase began. Orcas live in a matriarchal society. If she had not been ripped away from her family, Lolita would have stayed beside her mother for the rest of her life. Instead, she has spent over three decades locked in a grossly inadequate, sterile environment, isolated from members of her own species for over 21 years. Her only companion in her years of solitary confinement is an inflatable plastic killer whale that floats listlessly around her enclosure.

The inadequate size of Lolita's tank is the issue that supporters hope will finally tip the scales and eventually lead to the orca's release. Kept in the same tank at the Miami Seaquarium since her arrival over thirty years ago, Lolita has now grown to be 22 feet long and weighs over three tons. The size of her tank, at 80 feet long (divided in half by a work station and platform) by only 20 feet at its deepest point, provides a wholly inadequate living space for a marine mammal capable of swimming up to 35 miles an hour and diving up to 500 feet under the sea. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regulations stipulate that the primary enclosure for a killer whale must have a minimum width of no less than 48 feet. Despite the fact that the Miami Seaquarium tank is clearly illegal under these standards, APHIS has consistently failed for decades to enforce its own regulations and the Animal Welfare Act.

Supporters of the "Free Lolita" campaign insist that the regulations be enforced or that Lolita be retired from the Seaquarium and released to their care. Scientists at the Center for Whale Research in Washington State confirm that some members of Lolita's pod, who were present at the time of her capture, are still alive and swimming in the waters of Puget Sound. They have devised a thorough plan to retire, rehabilitate and release Lolita into her native waters in the hopes that she could rejoin her family. Because of Lolita's exceptional physical health and longevity in captivity, along with her ability to still vocalize and "speak" in the dialect of her familial pod, experts believe that she is a prime candidate for release. In captivity Lolita faces a greatly shortened future. If she were returned to the wild, she could live to be up to 80 years old. However, the park's owner continues to reject any ideas regarding the release of Lolita based upon economic interest.

Of the 134 orcas worldwide taken from the wild, 112 have died in captivity, many of them after only a short time. Lolita has already outlived by more than a decade the 44 orcas from her community that were captured prior to the practice being virtually outlawed in 1976. Sadly, it is not likely that she will survive much longer, regardless of tank size. This makes Lolita's situation all the more desperate. For more information about how you can help to bring Lolita home, please follow this link to the Orca Network's website:

www.orcanetwork.org/captivity/captivity.html