Lolita the Orca’s Story

Lolita was born in Puget Sound Washington State in 1966. She was a member of the L pod and is the daughter of Ocean Sun or L25 who is still alive today.

One day in 1970 when her pod were traveling together peacefully when they were herded into a inlet called Pen Cove. Bombs were thrown into the water to herd them into the Inlet, there were air craft and boats tracking them there seemed like there would be no escape for the family of orcas. Once they reached the cove, they threw nets around the orcas and were able to just take the calf’s away from their mothers. During this capture, a mother orca was caught in a net and drowned while four other baby orcas died  in the nets too.

eight babies were taken away from the pod and one of them being Lolita/ Tokitae she is the only surviving members of the “Pen Cove Round Up”.

Lolita was taken to a place called the Miami Seaquarium in Miami Florida. Her tank is 80 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 20 feet deep. But, Lolita is over 20 feet long. So her tank is shallower then she is long.

About a year later she lived with an orca named Hugo who lived in a different tank for 2 years. Hugo was a very aggressive orca and attacked his trainers. Rumor has it that Lolita had a calf but it never survived. One day in 1980, Hugo committed suicide by slamming into the wall of the tank multiple times. After that, Lolita lived with pacific white sided dolphins.

today Lolita still lives at the Miami Seaquarium. She is often bullied by her dolphin “companions”. And sometimes gets terrible sunburns because her tank is so shallow. She can barely open her eyes because of the sun and the chlorine in the tank.

Lolita is one of the oldest orcas in captivity and has spent almost 50 years at the Miami Seaquarium. She could never go back to the wild but could be sent to a sea penn witch is a seaside sanctuary were Lolita would be well taken care of and feel the rythm of the ocean. To help send Lolita to a sea penn boycott the Miami Seaquarium. Don’t buy a ticket. In fact, you can even protest at the Miami Seaquarium. Don’t let Lolita suffer any longer. Free Lolita!