A deal has been made to move a killer whale that has been at the Miami Seaquarium since it was caught in 1970
After more than 50 years in a tank, Lolita the orca will soon be able to swim in her home waters of Puget Sound in Washington state.
At a news conference on Thursday, a non-profit group called Friends of Lolita and the Miami Seaquarium said they had signed a deal to return the killer whale, also called Tokitae or Toki, to the area where she was caught in the next 18 to 24 months.
Lolita has lived at the aquarium since 1970. Now, the aquarium and the non-profit are working on a plan to move her.
The killer whale’s health has been getting worse since it got sick several times in 2021 and 2022. It is a member of the L Pod of southern resident orcas that live in the waters off Washington and British Columbia.
But a team of dedicated experts found in her most recent health and welfare assessment that “her energy, appetite, and interest in daily activities is becoming fairly stable.”
Pritam Singh is an environmentalist and one of the founders of Friends of Lolita. He says that the move will require a lot of coordination between different companies, government agencies, and jurisdictions.
“But I think we can handle it. I think it’s possible, “said Singh. “She [Lolita] is a sign that we know we have done things in the past that we shouldn’t have. We made mistakes. We need to fix the problems we’ve caused on Earth.”
At a news conference, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, Danielle Levine Cava, said that the orca’s return is only possible because of people like Jim Irsay, owner of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, who is helping pay for the move.
“Toki’s long-term health is the most important thing, and with the help of experts, we will continue to do what’s best for her,” Levine Cava said.
Details on the return are still sketchy
Howard Garrett, president of the board of the Orca Network in Washington state, has been fighting for Lolita’s release for almost 30 years. He says Thursday’s news is “extremely exciting.”
So far, not much is known about Lolita’s move, but Garrett thinks that the whole thing could cost up to US $20 million. He says that the team will have to set up a rehabilitation pen where the killer whale can get food, medical care, and care.
Garrett thinks that the move back to the Salish Sea will go well.
“She would be known to you. She would feel like she was born and raised in those waters, where her family taught her how to be an orca “he said.
“I’m sure she’ll do fine.”
In the past few years, though, not everyone has been on board with the idea of bringing Lolita back home.
In 2018, UBC’s Marine Mammal Research Unit director Andrew Trites said that moving Lolita “could be a very cruel and inhumane thing to do.”
He worries that Lolita’s age means it’s too late to bring her home safely.