Lolita (orca)

Lolita performing at Miami Seaquarium

Lolita is a 20-foot long, 7000 lb. orca who has lived at the Miami Seaquarium for over 40 years.^[1]

Early life

Lolita’s birthright is the L25 matriline of the "L" pod of the Southern Resident orca community in the Pacific Northwest. On August 8, 1970 Lolita was caught in Penn Cove, Puget Sound, WA. She was one of seven young whales sold to marine parks around the world from a roundup of over 80 orcas conducted by Ted Griffin and Don Goldsberry, partners in a capture operation known as Namu, Inc. Tokitae, as she was originally named, was purchased by Seaquarium veterinarian Dr. Jesse White for about $6,000 (the referenced article reports $20,000).^[2] On arriving to the Seaquarium Lolita joined another Southern Resident Orca named Hugo who was captured some time before Lolita and had lived in the park two years before her arrival. Tokitae was renamed Lolita "after the heroine in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel by The News."^[3]

Lolita (Tokitae), the Killer Whale

She and Hugo lived together for 10 years in what is known as the Whale Bowl, a tank 60-foot by 80-foot by 20 feet deep.^[4] Even though the pair mated many times (once to the point of suspending shows^[5]) the two never produced any offspring.^[6] Hugo died March 4, 1980. Since then, Lolita has lived in the Whale Bowl together with a pair of Pacific White Sided dolphins.

Controversy

While Lolita is literally the Seaquarium’s biggest star she has also attracted the facility attention from animal rights groups and anti-captivity activists. In 2008 Lolita was the subject of the documentary Lolita: Slave to Entertainment in which many anti-captivity activists, most notably Ric O'Barry (former Flipper trainer), argue against her current conditions and express a hope that she may be re-introduced to the wild. Protesters assert that the Seaquarium is treating Lolita cruelly.^[4]

References