LONDON: Animal advocates are celebrating news that Lolita, the lone orca at the Miami Seaquarium, is another step closer to freedom with the announcement that she will now get the endangered species protection already granted to her wild relatives.
Lolita is a member of the Southern Resident killer whales, who live in three distinct pods (J,K and L) in the Pacific Northwest. Her tragic story began in 1970 when she was taken from her family during a brutal roundup in Penn Cove, Wash., when she was just a calf. She has been in a ridiculously small tank at the Miami Seaquarium ever since.
Her relatives, who have yet to recover from the losses they suffered to the captivity industry, were protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2005, but the listing specifically – and inexplicably – excluded any orcas placed in captivity prior to the listing, leaving Lolita out.
In 2013, the Orca Network, Animal Legal Defense Fund and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a petition seeking to have her included in the listing, arguing, among other things, that Lolita is the only captive member of any endangered species to be excluded from a listing decision like this. Ultimately, they hope her inclusion will help lead to her being freed from her current confines in the oldest and smallest tank in the United States.
This week, and in response to the petition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that she will be included in the ESA listing along with the rest of the Southern Residents. The agency stated:
As presented in the proposed rule we find that Lolita’s captive status, in and of itself, does not preclude her listing under the ESA. Accordingly, we are removing the exclusion for captive whales in the regulatory language describing the Southern Resident killer whale DPS. The best available genetic information and sighting history of killer whales supports recognizing Lolita as a member of the Southern Resident killer whale population and, as such, is not excluded from the listed Southern Resident killer whale DPS.
While the ruling doesn’t guarantee her freedom, or initiate any immediate changes, her advocates are celebrating it as another positive step in the fight for her freedom. Howard Garrett, founder of the Orca Network, said in an email that this is a huge breakthrough towards getting her home. He further explained that her inclusion should make her current living conditions illegal under the ESA, which makes it unlawful to harm, harass or take endangered animals, and gives her advocates grounds to sue the Seaquarium, or possibly NOAA, over those violations.
