MIAMI — After more than 50 years in captivity, freedom may be in sight for Lolita, the Miami Seaquarium’s performing orca.
Officials with the theme park, along with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and volunteers for the Friends of Lolita group and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, announced plans to release the 57-year-old, 5,000-pound killer whale and transport it back to the Pacific Northwest.
Levine Cava called the newly signed collaborative agreement to return Lolita to its home waters “historic” and a great day for Miami. “So many have hoped and prayed for this result for many, many years.”
There are many hurdles ahead, some the complicated logistics of transporting such a massive creature across the country. It also wasn’t immediately clear if the move would be approved by federal agencies that oversee marine mammals and animal attraction. But the announcement of a plan was a major milestone in the long battle over the fate of the killer whale.
Animal rights groups, who made the whale the focus of a decades-long campaign, have long complained about its living conditions and the size of its tank at the aging tourist attraction. Lolita, also known by the Native American name of Tokitae, eventually emerged as a poster animal for changing societal views on performing animals and wildlife captivity.
Levine Cava credited the international group of activists who have pushed for the whale’s freedom but also defended the county’s oversight of Lolita during the long controversy over her fate. She said that recent independent reports have confirmed the whale is being well cared for by the county’s “finest marine veterinarian experts.”
“As long as she has been in our care, she has been cared for,” she said.
Eduardo Albor, CEO of the Dolphin Company, which owns the Seaquarium, said it was “a very special day.”
He told the crowd gathered at the press event Thursday about his first visit to the Seaquarium before his company purchased the theme park. He and his daughter caught the Lolita show, and he described a cheering, happy crowd of families delighting in the orca’s performance, including himself.
Then, he said, his daughter told him she couldn’t watch the show anymore and needed to leave.
“I cannot be here because this place is too small for Lolita,” she told him. “Dad, I have to go or I will cry.”
Albor said he was touched and vowed that if he took over the park he would do what he could to free Lolita.
“I promised,” he said.
Irsay, a philanthropist, has pledged to help bankroll the big move, which the group estimates could take six to nine months and cost $15 to $20 million.
That involves building a netted pen in the waters of the northwest coast, stocking it with dolphins to keep Lolita company and hiring trainers to re-acclimate her to the wild.
“We have to teach her how to catch fish again. She doesn’t know how to do that anymore, shes been in captivity too long,” he said.
Irsay said he’s been fascinated by whales since he was a child and called Lolita “the Cal Ripken Jr. of whales,” the famous shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles nicknamed “the Iron Man.”
“I’m excited about being part of Lolita’s journey,” he said.”I know that Lolita wants to go home. She has the fire within her.”
