A 57-year-old grandma killer whale 'Lolita' is released from the aquarium and decided to return to the sea over half a century
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Lolita the killer whale, who was captive at the Miami Seaquarium for more than 50 years and entertained audiences with graceful shows for years until she retired in March 2022, will be returned to her native seas to live with her family. .
Lolita, the 2nd-oldest orca in captivity, is finally getting released after more than 50 years | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/animals/marine-mammals/lolita-the-2nd-oldest-orca-in-captivity-is-finally-getting-released-after-more-than-50-years
Caregivers: Returning orca Lolita to Northwest is risky | AP News
Lolita is also one of the endangered 'Southern resident orcas', a killer whale that was captured in 1970 with 79 others in the coves of Whidbey Island, Washington. Originally, he was nicknamed 'Tokitae', or 'Toki' for short, which means 'clear day, beautiful color' in
According to an article in The Guardian, a major British general newspaper, the mass capture at this time is remembered as one of the largest and most widely condemned killer whale capture cases in history. Originally, Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest worshiped killer whales as part of their family, but white settlers disliked them as predators of salmon and sometimes even shot them with their guns. I'm here.
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Since being purchased by the Miami Seaquarium, Lolita has lived in the smallest pool in North America and performed well until her retirement from public shows in March 2022. Lolita, 57 years old at the time of writing, is the second oldest captive killer whale after Corky , a 58-year-old male living in SeaWorld San Diego.
On March 30, 2023, Miami Seaquarium will return Lolita to her hometown at a press conference held jointly with Friends of Lolita (Toki), a welfare group that has been promoting Lolita's homecoming for many years. announced that However, since it is old and cannot be returned to the wild at least soon, it is said that it will be moved to a 6-hectare enclosure newly built in the sea and will spend the rest of its life under the care of a trainer for the time being.
According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a British-based whale and dolphin conservation group, the average lifespan of wild female killer whales is 46 years, but some individuals live to be 80 to 90 years old. For example, Ocean Sun , the oldest southern resident killer whale and believed to be Lolita's mother, is 95 years old at the time of writing. Killer whales in captivity rarely live this long, but it is hoped that moving them to the sea will extend Lolita's lifespan.
by Andy Blackledge
Keeping killer whales in captivity and releasing them into the ocean is a subject of great debate. To date, the only example of a captive killer whale in North America being released back into the wild is Keiko , the male killer whale from the movie Free Willy . Keiko, who became famous for her hit movie, was released into the wild in 2002 after a large-scale signature campaign, but she was unable to adapt and died of pneumonia the following year at the age of 27.
Keiko's death has raised concerns that the killer whales may not be released back into the wild, but the BBC documentary Frozen Planet II shows that captive killer whales in Russia can be traced back to pods of wild killer whales. Hunting and playing were filmed, showing that killer whales can be returned to the sea.
Rainel Morris, an elder of the Rumi Indian tribe in Washington state and a board member of Friends of Lolita (Crested Crested), told The Associated Press, 'Unless she returns to her family, our family is broken. When she comes back, the web of life will be repaired and restored, and we people will be repaired and restored.”
Meanwhile, 'Truth 4 Toki', formed by former Lolita trainers and marine mammal experts, has issued a petition calling for Lolita to remain in captivity. Shana Simpson, Lolita's trainer from 2003 to 2009, said, 'The release of killer whales was attempted once in Keiko, but it was a disaster. It's a goal story, and it will end in the death of Toki (Lolita).'
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in Creature, Posted by log1l_ks