Lolita: 50 Years of Stolen Freedom
On August 8, 1970, a young whale was captured from her home waters in the Pacific Northwest. She was named Lolita (also known as Tokitae) and was shipped to Miami Seaquarium, where she still remains to this day.
This year will mark the 50th anniversary since Lolita’s capture. Dolphin Project and Empty the Tanks will be hosting an online event on behalf of Lolita’s 50 years of stolen freedom.
Retire Lolita
STEP 1:
DOWNLOAD one of our new #50YearsOfStolenFreedom posters.
STEP 2:
Take a picture holding the downloaded poster.
*If you don’t have a printer, download the posters to your phone or tablet and hold the device up in the picture.
STEP 3:
Upload your picture to all your social media accounts! Don’t forget to add the hashtags in your posts! #50YearsOfStolenFreedom #Retire Lolita
STEP 4:
Tag any of your friends or family that still support captivity in your post so they can learn the truth about Lolita and other marine mammals like her.
STEP 5:
Check out our other Lolita Action Items below! You can do these all year long to help with the efforts to retire Lolita.
Lolita Action Items!
Miami Seaquarium is operated by Palace Entertainment, which is owned by Parques Reunidos. They need to hear from you! You can write a letter and send it to Palace Entertainment to tell them you want to see Lolita retired to her home waters of Washington State.
You can mail your letters to this address:
Palace Entertainment Corporate Headquarters
4590 MacArthur Blvd., Suite 400
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Participate in the Origami Whales Project – Letters for Lolita
You can learn more by visiting THIS PAGE.
SIGN THE PETITION created by The Lummi Nation and Earth Law Center.
*You can learn more about the Lummi Nation’s efforts to help Lolita HERE.
Write to APHIS (The Animal & Plant Inspection Service) and the USDA and ask them to enforce the Animal Welfare Act on behalf of Lolita. APHIS oversees the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act and the USDA oversees APHIS.
When you write to them here are some points to mention:
Lolita has spent over 50 years at the Miami Seaquarium in an undersized tank with no shade to protect her from direct sunlight and no protection from the weather, including hurricanes. Her exposure to the sun and weather violates Section 3.103(3)(b) of the Animal Welfare Act.
Lolita’s tank is also 13 feet shorter than what is required by the Animal Welfare Act (Section 3.104). Lolita is 22 feet long and weighs over 7,000 pounds. Her tank is way too small for an orca of her size.
You can find more about the violations and a full sample letter from our friends over at Orca Network HERE.
Send your letters or email to:
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 200-A
Washington, DC 20250
agsec@usda.gov
Eastern Regional Director
USDA—APHIS Animal Care
920 Main Campus Drive, Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27606
betty.j.goldentyer@usda.gov
One of the most important things you can do is not support any of the other Parques Reunidos parks found around the world.
Here is a full list of the parks owned by this global corporation.
Amusement and theme parks:
Belantis
Bobbejaanland
Castle Park
Dutch Wonderland
Idlewild
Kennywood
Lake Compounce
Mirabilandia
Motiongate Dubai
Movie Park Germany
Parque de Atracciones de Madrid
Parque Warner Madrid
Slagharen
Story Land
Tusenfryd
Zoo Parks
Blackpool Zoo
Faunia
Selwo Aventura
Zoo Aquarium de Madrid
Marine life parks:
Aquarium of the Lakes
Marineland
Miami Seaquarium
Sea Life Park
Selwo Marina
Water parks:
Aquopolis
Bo Sommarland
Noah’s Ark
Raging Waters
Sandcastle
Splish Splash
Tropical Islands
Water Country
Wet’n’Wild Emerald Pointe
Wet’n’Wild Sydney
Share this page and information with your friends and family! Let’s continue to work together to help #RetireLolita. 50 years of stolen freedom is enough, she deserves to go home.
Ric O’Barry Action for Lolita from Dolphin Project on Vimeo.