An orca that has been kept in captivity in a "miserable" state for 50 years is set to be released as a plan to return her to "home waters" has been unveiled.
Calls for orcas, otherwise known as Killer Whales, to be released from captivity have been ongoing, particularly after the emergence of documentaries such as Black Fish on Netflix.
It would appear that calls for orcas to be released from captivity have been heard, as Lolita who has resided at the Miami Seaquarium for 50 years is set to be released.
As per NBC News, Lolita was captured in the Pacific Ocean decades ago and there are now plans in place to return her to her original home.
The announcement, which came on Thursday, was made at a press conference held by the Seaquarium and Florida nonprofit group Friends of Lolita and Jim Irsay, the philanthropist, and owner of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.
Lolita is the oldest orca in captivity after she was taken from the waters around Washington State when she was four years old in 1970.
After falling unwell in recent years, an announcement was made that the whale would no longer be on display at the Whale Stadium, which is where guests can see orcas perform stunts.
NOAA Fisheries, the US agency that oversees ocean resources and the habitats of marine life, added southern resident orcas to the endangered species list in 2005.
Their website states that pods of orcas were reduced between 1965 and 1975 due to the whales being removed from their natural habitats to be put on display around the country.
The population was just 71 orcas in 1974, before peaking at 97 in 1996 and the current count notes that there are currently around 70 southern resident whales.
As per NBC, Jared Goodman, the PETA Foundation’s vice president and general counsel for animal law, released a statement on Tuesday about Lolita's imminent return to natural waters.
"If Lolita is finally returned to her home waters, there will be cheers from around the world, including from PETA, which has pursued several lawsuits on Lolita’s behalf and battered the Seaquarium with protests demanding her freedom for years," Goodman noted after animal rights activists have campaigned for years for the release of orcas from marine parks.
"If the Seaquarium agrees to move her, it’ll offer her long-awaited relief after five miserable decades in a cramped tank and send a clear signal to other parks that the days of confining highly intelligent, far-ranging marine mammals to dismal prisons are done and dusted," Goodman concluded.
We hope that Lolita gets to spend the remainder of her days in her natural environment in peace.
