Action Alert! Tell Miami Seaquarium Lolita has earned her retirement!
September 14th marks 39 years that Lolita, a female orca held at the Miami Seaquarium, has been kept in captivity. WDCS, along with Orca Network and a number of other animal welfare organizations around the world are asking people to call, fax, email, or snail mail the Miami Seaquarium to tell them it is time to let Lolita retire! Please write a polite letter to Miami Seaquarium asking them to let her retire. This Sunday, September 13th, is the time to join many others to let them know how you feel.
Need some ideas for what to say to them?
Please find below some suggested text. If you would like to add to it with your own comments, you may find inspiration in the files downloadable from the bottom of this page.
"Please retire Lolita the killer whale. I understand she is important to your business, but she has been in the same small tank for 39 years now. Her family is still alive in the wild and there are thousands of people willing to pay for her retirement. Captive dolphins and whales have been released before very successfully and Lolita is a great candidate. Until she is retired, my family and I have decided never to visit the Miami Seaquarium."
Ways you can contact Miami Seaquarium with your views:
Leave a comment in their “Comment Box”: http://www.miamiseaquarium.com/contact/contact.asp
Send them a letter addressed to:
Miami Seaquarium
4400 Rickenbacker Causeway
Key Biscayne, FL 33149, USA
Lolita’s background story
In 1970, a capture team using speedboats, airplanes and explosives forced a group of female and young Southern Resident orcas into a narrow inlet called Penn Cove. The other members of the community soon followed, where they were all corralled.
The young animals were shipped to marine parks around the world. One, first called Tokitae, was delivered to the Miami Seaquarium. She was given a new name, "Lolita," and against all odds she has survived these many years in a tiny tank that is illegal by the letter of the Animal Welfare Act. Lolita's longevity in a tank is extraordinary even by orca standards. All of the other 44 captive Southern Resident orcas captured were dead by 1987. Studies have shown that orcas in captivity live far less than half their normal lifespan.
Working with others around the globe, we've been working hard to try to convince people that it is simply wrong to confine large, family-bonded, long-lived and far-ranging whales to bathtub-sized tanks. Although captures of these animals from the wild are no longer commonplace, the Russian Government still gives out an annual capture quota for orcas.
We have also been working to try to convince people that orcas are capable of returning to their home habitat if provided with companionship and care. It may also be possible to return them to their families. Orcas are much stronger and far more adaptable and capable than is generally understood. Their strength is partly due to their cultural traditions and family bonds, and the durability of those memories. By returning Lolita to her family she could regain the strength that comes from rebuilding those lifelong family bonds.
See these additional links for more information about whales and dolphins in captivity!
http://www.wdcs.org/submissions_bin/Kids_Introduction_to_Captivity.pdf
and
http://www.wdcs.org/submissions_bin/Which_would_you_prefer.pdf