Meet Tokitae, or rather “Lolita” - the stage name that this beautiful female orca was given when she was captured from her family back in the 1970’s. Ever since then, she’s been performing shows at the Miami Seaquarium and living in captivity for 45 years now, giving her title of “oldest orca” in captivity. Not only is she not living the life that she deserves to have, but she currently lives in one of the tiniest tanks for a creature of her size. It’s easy to say that like all the other orca and cetaceans in captivity, Lolita is living in an inhumane environment that doesn’t give her the adequate lifestyle that she needs. Like Keiko and many other orca, there has been a push to release her back into the wild where she belongs. Recently however, that push was overturned by government officials finding no issues in her containment, but the fight currently continues to bring this beautiful creature to where she rightfully belongs.
Many people like to say that sending Lolita back to the wild is a death sentence for the orca. Many compare the death of Free Willy star Keiko as the consequence of a captive animal’s freedom; however, that is an unfair statement to make. If Lolita were to be released, odds are that she would be transported to a sea pen within the wild waters, like an ocean sanctuary. There, she would be able to no longer perform, be taught slowly how to eat and survive for herself with the help of the humans by her side, and regain her health. Keiko was able to regain much of his health and strength after being placed in his sanctuary and, subsequently, was able to learn how to fend for himself in the wild. Most importantly, he was able to have the taste of freedom and good health despite his early death, which was most likely the damage of being in captivity. While Lolita has surpassed Keiko’s lifespan by 20+ years, she still would suffer the same damage of having a shorter lifespan than wild female orca (whose age extends to 80+ years).
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It’s hard to say if Lolita will ever reunite with her family or learn to be a wild orca again, it’s still worth taking Lolita out of her prison to regain the freedom that she once had. While giving her the life Tokitae had before her time runs out wouldn’t solve everything, it would give her story a much happier ending.
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