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Nuri Vallbona / AP
Trainer Marcia Hinton with Lolita during a performance at the Seaquarium in Miami in 1995.
Supporters have offered $1 million for her release. Annual demonstrations have demanded her return to the Northwest. Over the years, celebrities, schoolchildren and even a Washington state governor have campaigned to free Lolita, a killer whale captured from Puget Sound waters in 1970 and who has been performing at Miami Seaquarium for the past four decades.
Activists are now suing the federal government in federal court in Seattle, saying it should have protected Lolita when it listed other Southern Resident orcas as an endangered species in 2005.
"The fact that the federal government has declared these pods to be endangered is a good thing, but they neglected to include these captives," said Karen Munro, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who lives in Olympia, Wash. Plaintiffs include two other individuals, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The lawsuit filed in November alleges that the fisheries service allows the Miami Seaquarium to keep Lolita in conditions that harm and harass her and otherwise wouldn't be allowed under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit alleges Lolita is confined in an inadequate tank without sufficient space and without companions of her own species.
The agency is still reviewing the lawsuit, said Monica Allen, a spokeswoman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose fisheries service oversees marine mammals.
Lolita, who is estimated to be about 44 or 45, is the last surviving orca captured from the Southern Resident orca population during the 1970s. She is a member of the L pod, or family. Female orcas generally live into their 50s though they can live decades longer.
Wallie Funk / AP
In this Aug. 8, 1970, photo provided by Wallie Funk, members of a pod of orca whales are held captive in Penn Cove, off Whidbey Island, Wash. Seven of the dozens of whales captured, including Lolita, who has been performing stunts for Miami Seaquarium for the past four decades, were sold to marine parks around the world. Five whales drowned during the capture.
The J, K and L pods frequent Western Washington's inland marine waters and are genetically and behaviorally distinct from other killer whales. They eat salmon rather than marine mammals, show an attachment to the region, and make sounds that are considered a unique dialect. The whales, with striking black coloring and white bellies, spend time in tight, social groups and ply the waters of Puget Sound and British Columbia.
When the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the Southern Resident orcas as endangered — in decline because of lack of prey, pollution and contaminants, and effects from vessels and other factors — it didn't include whales placed in captivity prior to the listing or their captive born offspring.
They're "not maximizing opportunity to protect the species if you exclude captive members," said Craig Dillard, litigation director for the Animal Legal Defense. Lolita should have the same protections as other wild orcas, he added.
He noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering whether to give all captive chimpanzees the same protection as wild chimpanzees.
'She remembers'
The Miami Seaquarium declined to comment on the lawsuit. It issued a statement saying Lolita is active, healthy, well-cared for and plays an important role in educating the public about the need to conserve the species. Lolita has learned to trust humans completely, the statement says, and "this longstanding behavioral trust would be dangerous for her if she were returned to Puget Sound, where commercial boat traffic and human activity are heavy, pollution is a serious issue and the killer whale population has been listed as an endangered species."
Howard Garrett, co-founder of the nonprofit Orca Network based on Whidbey Island, Wash., said returning her to Northwest waters is the right thing to do. It would be healthier for her, and allow her to rebuild family bonds with the L pod.
"She remembers where she came from. I think she will remember her water and her family," said Garrett, who has spent years advocating for her release and whose group plans to help Lolita transition back to Northwest waters.
Munro joined the lawsuit because she believes Lolita deserves to retire and return to the Puget Sound, where she can swim naturally and attempt to reunite with her family.
She became an advocate for the majestic creatures, after witnessing a "very violent, distressing scene" of orcas being torn from their pods while out sailing in 1976. The captors used explosives, boats and seaplanes to chase the animals into shallower waters and netted them, she said.
"They were taking these orcas away purely for money and profit, because they make huge amounts of money from whale shows. They (orcas) don't belong in these aquariums," she said, adding "Lolita deserves to come back."
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Imprisoned solely for human entertainment. Sad.
it is not solely for human entertainment. animals who perform in the places like Lolita educate the general populace about their species, creating the desire to preserve them. They should be treated well but they ( like zoo's ) are a vital part in learning what we can about them so we know what we cna do to help the wild ones.
And after 40 years, she doesnt know the patterns ( it has changed as stated above because of polution and declining fish spawns) and she would die. She is used to looking to humans for food and would go where she sees/hears them. I can understand advocating to get her a better living environment, but she wouldnt last in the wild.
Read the way these higher relatives have been hoarded, corraled, tortures and manipulated, degraded and imposed on
Then you have the "righteous" intellectualizers like TSEIRPA" vouching fo rall of the benefits to "mankind"
The best way for us fools to benefit from all of what exists naturally and abundantly is to LEAVE IT ALONE.
LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE FRUITS OF ALL LIFE - AND NOT HAVE THE CRUEL, GREEDY, PATHETIC NEED TO CONTROL EVERYTHING WITHIN REACH OF THE OVER-POPULATED HUMAN RACE, TRAMPLING OVER EVERYTHING IN THEIR PATH
I agree completely!! The "GREEDY, PATHETIC NEED TO CONTROL EVERYTHING" describes all of the dummies that think spending millions to free Toki is a worthwhile venture. Anyone with a brain should understand that she would not survive. RIKK said it perfectly....."LEAVE IT ALONE!"
You morons! Any animal that has been hand fed for 40 years is not capable of fending for itself in the wild! Further, this whale would expect that kind of treatment from a boatload of murderers with harpoons.
Maybe if you avoided the personal attacks we would take you seriously, d**khead.
I don't want an other whales taken but I think she is too dependent on humans to be put back into the wild. It's sad but I don't believe she would last long.
@Sawyer-2103826
You know, maybe if you avoided the personal attacks we would take you seriously.
I wonder what she would say about the matter.
So, Hornady does have a point. After 40 years of captivity it's unlikely she'd be able to survive in the wild. Additionally, statements such as "she remembers" or "what would she think" are rather pointless because you can't actually demonstrate either of them. The only way to show that she remembers would be to stick her in the wild and see if she dies. Rather extreme test if you ask me.... You also can't really make statements if the pod will remember her or see her as an outsider.
When people hear of these things or advocate for them they often think of things like in the movie homeward bound, or Free Willy, or some other human interpretation of what animals think. Saying "she remembers her waters and her family" is putting a human interpretation upon an animal. Unfortunately, this isn't how nature often works....
Here's another human analogy that is ofter overlooked. Imagine that you weren't born in the US, instead you were born to a tribe of nomads in the Sahara desert. You were taken at age 5 and moved to a confined house somewhere in another country. Now you're 40 years old with no knowledge of the desert and the only things you have are things you remembered at say age 5. How well do you think you'd survive if they took you and dropped you right back in the middle of the desert? Suddenly that sappy music playing in the background of Free Willy doesn't sound so great....
You're a jerk
You'd think that with ALL THE ****F'N**** money this amazing realtive has earned while IN PRISON - that WE PATHETIC CREATURES would have enough money by now to afford the proper protection from CREATURES LIKE US!
THEY NEVER FORGET "WHO THEY ARE" OR WHERE THEY ARE FROM OR WHO THEIR FAMILIES ARE - THEY ARE NOT THE IDIOTS THAT PATHETIC HUMANS ARE!
What we NEED TO DO is protect these far superior relatives from the likes of US! - If any of you high-flying "humans" can grasp that theme: we are their enemies, not their protectors, not their providers.
We are the enemies and the demise of almost everything naturally "good and perfect", as soon as we "have it in our sight": We Destroy!
RIKK, releasing this animal into the wild would result in the same tragedy as with Keiko the Whale, the whale in Free Willy. He died of starvation and pneumonia a year after being released. He was not accepted into the pods where he was captured and continued to follow humans for over 800 miles in fishing boats until his death. Trying to place a human face on a whale to try to predict what will happen when released into the wild is foolish. These wild animals are not as intelligent as humans so the pod will have no idea why this sudden newcomer was gone for 40 years if they even remember her, nor will anyone be able to explain her absence to garner sympathy from the pod. You don't even know if the pod will feel sympathy or will outright reject Lolita leading towards her eventual starvation and isolation from the only companionship she has known for almost 90% of her life. By advocating for her release into the wild after 40 years of captivity you are advocating torturing her through starvation and exposure to the elements resulting in her death with a year or two after release. Kieko died painfully and horribly after being released after spending about 25 years in captivity. She's spent 40.... The results would be similar.
HORNADY XTP and Sawyer-2103826, you are suspended for a day for violating rule # 1 of the Code of Honor.
That's so sad.....educating people?!?! give me a F'n break.....wanna be educated??? watch Nat Geo and see them filmed in their natural habitat.....they're lining their pockets at the expense this poor animal's life.
Agree 100%!! Should've never been in captivity in the first place.
I agree - she should never have been in captivity. But she has been for a very long time and to release her into the wild now would be reckless and dangerous for her.
That's the excuse all of these programs use when exploiting marine mammals for profit. They also have a breeding program so that they can pump out as many cute little babies as possible - once they stop being cute little babies, they're sold away to other aquariums at huge profit. Imagine how horrible - these animals form very close bonds and usually live their entire lives in family units. The swim-with-dolphins programs are particularly tragic and the programs lie about where the animals come from, how they're trained, what happens to them when they don't comply, etc. It's not about education, it's about $$$ and they rely on ignorance to sell their product.
how do you expect a researcher to take care of a killer whale if they do not have a source of income to support what it costs to feed, house, treat a whale?
Yes she shouldnt have been captured, but she has and the goal now after 40 years should be in making her environment the best it can be, sans polution, boats and idiots who think its fun to poke a whale. If they do force her release and she dies, it would be completely on their shoulders and according to their creed, they should go to jail for murder.
Tsierapa - please stop posting - you are the perfect product of human upbringing in a delusional world of your own.
They can be re-integrated! they will know their families! They will know their environment.
The error, the mistake, the obvious concern is that their are absolutely ****f'd up**** humans she needs to be protected from - have the g***d*** captors now put forward some of the money this gift has generated and protect her from us !
Give her life back - whatever the cost to our greedy, creepy, self-absorbed world of toys 'n trinkets.
Your comment that she still needs to EARN HER KEEP is the ultimate sign of arrogance, foolery - and a totally assinine, PATHETIC statement.
But, hey, you're human, i.e. dumber than we all realize
WOW! I'm about a day late in this discussion and there is so much crap on here! For starters, "Pedestrian", I don't know where you swim with dolphins but in facilities in the US nothing happens to dolphins that "don't comply". How stupid would a trainer be to use punishment in their sessions? Trainers escort guests into the dolphins' environment (in which they have the upper hand considering they live in water and we don't) for each swim. A pissed off animal is capable of some serious @!$%# (ex: elephants). They can do some damage and prevent you from getting out if they wanted to. Putting guests in a situation like that would be completely stupid.
I'm only part way through these posts but I have to respond to RIKK. I am convinced that YOU are the one in some kind of "delusional world". There is no scientific basis to prove that a killer whale would know their family, their environment, or that they can be re-integrated after 41 years. I understand the wishful thinking, but until animals can talk we can't be sure of anything. What I DO know for certain, is that Toki will not eat whole salmon and she is terrified of live fish. Until Toki can post her thoughts on facebook, I recommend taking it down a notch. Your anger is a bit concerning.
Mrmarlin, I "swim" with dolphins where they belong - in the open seas. I dive and from time to time, dolphins have graced me with their presence. I would never participate in a "dolphin experience" like the ones all over the world - from Asia to Mexico, throughout the Caribbean... they're hideous and dishonest and have nothing to do with research. I've spoken with employees (never call them trainers, they're more like salesmen) and these animals are so poorly treated that it's sickening. The cruise ship industry profits from these programs and promotes them like crazy - resorts in Hawaii, Bahamas, etc. also make big $$$ of of captive dolphin programs.
Tag her first.
I hate to say it but release her. She will not make it in the wild for a year. She's been captive too long.
Bye Lolita.
sure if you just toss her in at the wrong time she is a goner.
However reintroduce to her pod and you now have a different story. As they can complicate with each other and there still may be member in the pod that remember. Then you all have to consider the age factor. May be best to live out the remainder as a slave to the show. Teach us that the wild should be left in the wild. Make them do this at the show or give up their rights to her
I just wondered what does "they can comlicate with each other" mean? they can communicate with each other but complicate?
animal activists only see their viewpoint. letting this animal into the wild would be sending it to it's grave. but the ignorant morons would all pat themselves on their backs.
Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to say. Any transition can be extremely stressful but if she were able to overcome it, and say only lived a year but with family, it might be worth it for her. I don't know if you know enough to say that these activists are morons though- I'm sure they've considered how it will be hard for her, but the alternative is worse in their opinion and I'm inclined to agree. Solitary confinement without access to exercise is very cruel. Then again, she may be agoraphobic at this point.
Unfortunately, I don't think Lolita should be released. While freedom is always a good thing to want for these animals, this poor orca has been in captivity so long that it might actually be beneficial to /keep/ her in captivity.
Free Lolita!!!
Free Willy!
Im sorry to say this in this way but
1.how many of you that are posting here ever went are were taking to marine world as a adult taking your childern, i say this to point out you paid to keep her captive.
2. at this point this whale has no fear of humans, so frist whaler she comes into contact with she would be a easy target
3.as it says in the story if she was released back into the wild what are the chances of her meeting backup with her on pod and if she met up with anther would they attack her being alone are would they take her in,it was made clear in 1970 Thier was 3 different pods not one
4.now at this time even anmial control will not release a hand feed anmial back into the wild because it can not fend for itself
so all that being said the only thing left would to be just put her down then sale the meat to japan(not)
im just pointing out the options
I have to side with those that think she's been captive for too long and has little chance of surviving for very long if released back into the wild.
The activists are, IMHO, doing her more harm than good all for their own little 15 minutes of fame this year.
As far as the comments that Howard Garrett made, they seem more like wishful thinking on his part - how the hell does he know what Lolita remembers and what chances she might have in reuniting with her "family". Heck, they might take her for a rogue and kill her themselves (although I don't know if such things happen among orca pods even though it is a possibility with other species).
How about limited captivity, then? Set up a large pen in Pacific Northwest waters for Lolita to swim around in, and hopefully attract some wild Orcas to come communicate with her and help her acclimitate to the environment. If she shows signs of knowing how to hunt, full release from captivity is possible.
Killer Whale pods are like families, they look out for their own. The problem is, the current generation of Orcas will not likely recognize Lolita, unless they still speak her language.
A most obvious approach - nice to see the post amongst the limited thinking we see here - the proper options are available. Her solitary confinement right now is NO OPTION.
Bring her home - feed her, keep her in a "surround", let her senses reignite - there are OBVIOUS WAYS TO DO THAT! NOT Fast - NOT haphazardly
Thanks !
Sadly returning her to the wild would most likely be a death sentence. She is likely not in good enough condition to chase and eat prey she has not chased and ate in 40 years.
Yes, we need to remember what happended when Keiko (Free Willy whale) was released. He never really was fully reintroduced and died in a year. He left the wild pod to spend time around humans even though he was reintroduced to where he had been captured.
If these idiots win, will they accept responsibility when this whale starves to death? What penalty will they pay?
Admittedly, I know little of cetacian habits over long periods of time. However, I would posit that this creature is more instinctual than we would like to believe.
Take, for example, the killer whale who - after many shows with trainers - killed someone. It happens occasionally, and this is because they are still wild animals, for all our training and conditioning. There is no such thing as a "domesticated" whale, in the same sense as the domestic dog or horse. We as human beings need to understand that even raising these creatures from infancy does not drive out their instinctual nature. A wolf pup can still bite the hand that feeds it, an abandoned kangaroo joey can kick its rescuer, and a trained tiger can turn on its trainer. Just ask Siegfried and Roy. We as humans need to respect that wildness.
That said, human influence does disrupt natural behavior to a point of self-destruction. Once used to human interaction, there is no reversing their habits. Bears - once they become used to humans - will regularly invade campgrounds for food. What's to say this orca won't wander into human-populated waters as get itself - or human beings - killed? Fear of man is all that keeps some species alive, and 40 years of exposure will have all but eliminated that.
Yet again on the flip side, I can point to the story of Christian the Lion who - raised by humans - did fairly well for himself in the wild. Still, his circumstance is fairly unique. It isn't terribly common for an animal with that much human influence to make it in the wild.
So should she be released? I can't say. There are too many variables here. At this point, it might be worth the scientific data to release her and see if she DOES revert to wild habits or not. But for her safety, it's probably best she stay captive, as horrible as it sounds.
Whales, like humans, have different personalities, The one that killed the trainer was aggresive and should not have been in the water with her. Besides, the trainer devoted her life to working with these wonderful animals- she knew the risk. I like to think that she would want him to live, the stay in the park and still be loved. It was a tragedy but you can't judge a whole species on a couple of individuals. Dogs kill. Horses kill. Humans kill- a lot....
I may be wrong, but I believe the death of the trainer at Seaworld was due to drowning, not the whale attacking her. I seem to recall that she got caught somehow and dragged under.
Anita, the whale grabbed her by her hair and pulled her to the bottom of the pool. It is doubtful it was doing anything but playing with her since it didn't understand she couldn't survive. It was not a violent attack.
The trainer actually slipped off the whales nose during a stunt and landed underneath a Whale jumping out of the water....the whale fell on top of her. That's hardly the Whale's fault.
No the killer whale did pull her in and play with her ponytail. Put it was known that he was aggressive and he was once in a place that didn't take care of their whales. But that's the difference between good and bad captivity. If they are kept in a good place, they are very happy and sociable.
(By the way, Tikum (the whale) Is HUGE. I mean seriously. I saw him in a show last year- he was so big that his dorsal fin was floppy! He was too big for himself. It was really very interesting. He probably didn't have to do much to kill her unfortunately.)
No, the killer whale shot her four times with its Glock.
What part of killer whale do you not understand?
Killer whales are predators, I think they understand death. He pulled her down and pinned her to the bottom of the tank. Maybe he didn't know it was lethal but I kinda doubt it. Anyway, he should definitely be released - he's young enough to have better chances then this whale and since he can't be near humans or other orcas he gets no intellectual stimulation and is likely going if not already insane.
"Aggressive" - imagine that. A highly intelligent, pelagic creature that sleeps with just half it's brain at a time is kept in a tiny tank and made to do "tricks" for dead fish, until one day he goes a little ape$hit. Of course, that doesn't stop the corporation from using him to make money - they just wait a little bit of time until people forget that someone actually died for their profit. Go figure.
It is so frustrating reading these posts.....just because you have a computer, internet access and can type some letters does not make a person an expert on a subject. The last several posts I read, not a single person knows (or can spell) the name of the Seaworld whale that was involved in the death of Dawn B. And yet you all seem to know everything about it and have some insider info. You all have been fed inaccurate info. The whale did not land on her,etc. This is very similar to the false info that is being spread around about Toki and her life at MSQ. Just a reminder, keep an open mind and don't believe everything you read no matter how much you want it to be the truth.
@ Kimmy: I think we're talking about different situations. There was an accidental death awhile ago at Seaworld where the trainer fell underneath the Whale during a routine trick.
While it may be true that she has been in captivity way too long, I still say free her and let nature take its course. We don't know for sure what will happen, but at least she will live the rest of whatever life she has in freedom, which never should have been taken away in the first place. It should never have been up to humans to take her out of the wild. Free her now!.
Maybe she wants to stay with the aquarium. She still has freedom and she probably loves being there. She has been living there for FOURTY years. She shouldn't have been captured when she was healthly unless they took all her family with her, but you can't change the past. Releasing her would be MURDERING her.
Ellen... they tried that with Keiko the whale. He died of pneumonia and probably starvation in a year.... He also kept looking for humans by following fishing boats up the coastline of Norway.
Releasing her wouldn't be just murdering her, it would torturing her through starvation, removal of the only companionship she has known for 40 years, exposing her to the elements, and then killing her. Hell, one could argue she would be better off if you just shot her next year as opposed to torturing her first...
This makes me sick. People, if you can't entertain yourselves, watch "Seinfeld." Animals shouldn't be forced to live in unnatural situations and made to perform tricks for a bunch of knuckle-dragging numbskulls.
Sorry, Seinfeld is not entertainment.
I'm an animal activist and I think it's insane and cruel to send these animals to the wild after being in captivity so long. They do not have the skills to survive and I really question the immune system of an animal that has been captive so long. Keiko died from pneumonia. He was also undernourished and too friendly with people which is Norway was bad enough. I can't imagine how long this animal would survive if released back to her native pod (which has to happen because that is the only dialect she knows) with all the publicity and people wanting to catch a glimpse. I fear for boats, illness, and people who may want to intentionally harm her.
Arthur Hertz and his son Andrew have refused over and over and over again to build a new tank for her and put her with companions. All he says is that "it's my whale and I'll do whatever I want with her". They are the same as abusive, unfit parents.
Jennifer-You might be one of the more intelligent people on this site. Kudos!
Dolphins (Killer Whales are not whale; they are dolphins) live MUCH longer in captivity. It isn't cruel if they are taken good care of! I am the biggest dolphin lover and I love going to Seaworld and such to see the dolphins and they like the attention. Their trainers have become there family. It's wonderful that humans and animals can react in a way. What about dogs? cats? birds? Should we let the door open and let them live in their original habitat too? And us? Our habitat isn't a bunch of buildings. We just made a home for these animals and care for them. It protects them, prevents them from starvation, oil spills, storms, predators. A bottlenose dolphin's life span is 20 years- in captivity it is double that.
And besides this animal would die in an instant if left in the wild. It doesn't know how to hunt anymore! So these "animal rights" people are not helping they're just endangering the animals. Now if this animal wasn't being treated weel, then by all means release it or send it to a place that can give it all the love and space it deserves. Dolphins are beautiful, intelligent, and magnifecent.
They tried this before with the whale that played Free Willy. I found this on wikipedia. I feel that for this particular whale captivity is its life now. Maybe we can change for the future.
**** Start of Article***
The plan to return him to the wild was a topic of much controversy. Some felt his years of captivity made such a return impossible. Researchers in a scientific study[3] later said attempts to return him to the wild were misguided.[4] The Norwegian pro-whaling politician Steinar Bastesen made international news for his statement that Keiko should instead be killed and the meat sent to Africa as foreign aid.[5] Nevertheless, the process of preparing Keiko for the wild began on September 9 , 1998, when he was flown to Klettsvik Bay on the island of Heimaey in Vestmannaeyjar in Iceland. Upon landing, the C-17 Globemaster aircraft suffered a landing gear failure causing over $1 million in damage, though Keiko was unharmed.[6][7] His day-to-day care became the responsibility of the Ocean Futures Society. He underwent training designed to prepare him for his eventual release, including supervised swims in the open ocean.
Loading Keiko onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport on September 9, 1998 in Newport, Oregon for transport to the Westman Islands in Iceland
During one of these "walks" his trainers lost track of Keiko in the open ocean off Iceland on July 11, 2002, and were unable to locate him with the satellite tracking device attached to his dorsal fin. Keiko was finally spotted 870 miles (1,400 km) away off the coast of Norway. In September, he followed a fishing boat to Halsa in Norway where he allowed fans to play with him and crawl over his back. Local marine biologists found him hungry and having lost weight during his stay in the North Atlantic. Several days later his handlers arrived and soon thereafter enticed him to nearby Taknes Bay, hoping to discourage his interaction with humans. They hoped a passing pod of orcas would "adopt" Keiko and lead him back to the open ocean, but the pod never appeared, forcing his trainers to continue to feed and care for Keiko.
I think that the other whales will help it. They babysit for eachother in the wild, and they help eachother. They are a family unit and function that way. Besides, giving the whale a real life in it's own place is kinder even if it's life is shortened, than a life of captivity. Think about how you would prefer freedom over captivity. They are not humans, but they are a life that craves freedom like any other. I can't believe we still have zoos except for injured animals. Its rediculous. And I am not even an animal activist!
If whales are "babysitters" then what pod of whales is responsible for not "babysitting" Keiko? They should be punished because they did not "help" him! Where was his "family unit"? He was from that area.....why would the whales there not "BABYSIT" him?
And you spelled ridiculous wrong
Her owner is not a nice person. People have been trying to get her out for 15 years. She is held in a round pool not much bigger than a backyard one. She has been all alone since her mate died over 20 years ago. She makes crying noises when she hears the taped sounds of her whale pod. If she dies, at least she will die free and away from the gruesome person who has held her all these years. Time to give up your meal ticket, Arthur Hertz.
Well if she is being mistreated and in not enough space than that is entirely different and sad. She should be given to another aquarium that will treat her right and give her space and live and let her interact with the other killer whales (she can't live in the wild). I thought she was in a big tank with other killer whales! They are sociable creatures, not made to be alone.
That doesn't mean all killer whales are mistreated though.... so the lawsuit on terms of endangerment doesn't make sense (especially since they do live longer in captivity)
That is heart breaking. Everyone should read your post before passing judgement.
You can look up her story anywhere on the internet. Here is one website that shows the little pool she has been in alone all these years. orcanetwork.org, search for Lolita.
They probably should've mentioned this arguement in the article. They made it sound like the activists wanted all killer whales in every aquarium released not just the mistreated ones.
Correction, she has been all alone in the tank since the other whale died in 1980!!!! And they know exactly where her pod is located. Let her go Mr. Hertz.
She does not live alone people! And "Kimmy", how do you suppose Toki is being mistreated? You don't know anything about her daily activities with her trainers. You are the problem. You just believe what some random people post on websites. I could spend hours with you talking about Toki but why would I waste my time?
So in other words taking this one out of the wild 35 years before might have made it easier for the other wild ones to survive.
Whales are stupid.
I think she's been captive too long and wouldn't make it in the wild. Sad, especially if you study the background of Lolita. There's a video showing the hunt where they captured her, just search youtube for "Lolita the orca's capture". What was done to this animal is shameful but I doubt releasing her now is the best thing. Let's just hope that these types of hunts are over.
F'n PETA internet trolls.
Ever ask "Lolita" if she wants to go back to the wild? This is total rob of her rights!! Lol, stupid people.
Lola has rights? You are right about one thing...some people are stupid.
Sure she may have originally come from the wild, and that is sad, but after forty years in captivity I doubt she would "remember" how to be a wild whale anymore. And, after forty years her pod is likely to consider her to be an outsider and attack her instead of bring her into their company. I am sure that releasing her would be a sure death for her. Let her live out her life under good treatment and captivity, and yes, make sure that orcas cannot be taken from the wild any longer, but it's too late to free this one.