"Aquatic Army" To Rally on Virginia Key Sunday

An “Aquatic Army” will descend on Virginia Key Sunday, Oct. 17 at the “Rally for Lolita’s Retirement.”

The event is being organized in part by Oceanic Defense, a non-profit ocean education and advocacy group that seeks to raise awareness about everyone’s responsibility to protect the world’s oceans. This week the group hosted a series of events and community forums in Miami.

The Rally takes place from 12 to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010 outside the Miami Seaquarium, 4400 Rickenbacker Causeway, Virginia Key.

Guest speakers include Captain Pete Bethune, captain of Earthrace, the wave-piercer that set a world record for the fastest global circumnavigation; Trevor, a nine year old boy from Washington State who started the Let Lolita Live Campaign; and Cynthia Aguilar, a record-setting endurance paddle boarder and South Beach Ocean Lifeguard, subject of an upcoming documentary about her challenge to solo paddle from Cuba-to-Key West.

Lolita (Tokitae) is a 44-year old captive orca living at the Miami Seaquarium in Miami, Florida. She was captured off Whidbey Island, Washington State in 1970. In response to previous requests to retire Lolita, the Miami Seaquarium has responded that the killer whale has been hand-fed for the past 39 years and could not survive on her own in the ocean.

Resources:
www.oceanicdefense.org
http://www.miamiseaquarium.com

Photo courtesy of Oceanic Defense.

@2010 All Rights Reserved

Virginia Key on Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Mother's Day is About Lolita

Today, Mother’s Day, there will be a protest -- as there has been for many years -- in front of Miami Seaquarium by supporters of Lolita (Tokitae), the captive killer whale and star attraction of the marine exhibition park on Virginia Key.

According to the Orca Network, Lolita was captured off Whidbey Island, Washington State in 1970. Lolita was believed to be 2-6 years old and was separated from her mother, along with other orcas who were also captured for sale to marine parks.

Researchers believe they have identified Lolita’s mother, identified at “L-25,” “Ocean Sun,” a member of the Southern Resident community of Orca’s off Washington State’s coast.

On this Mother’s Day, supporters of Lolita plan to come out to raise awareness about the capture and separation and promote Lolita’s retirement into a baypen “where she would be able to interact with and if she chooses to do so, rejoin her pod including her mother."

The Miami Seaquarium has responded in the past that Lolita, which has been hand-fed for the past 39 years, could not survive on her own in the ocean and would "continue to be an ambassador for her species from her home at Miami Seaquarium," according to statements previously released to the press.

The 38-acre Miami Seaquarium on Virginia Key, which opened in 1955, is the longest operating “oceanarium” in the United States. From 1963 through 1967, 88 television episodes and two movies starring Flipper were filmed at Miami Seaquarium, according to the park’s website.

Photo: Killer whales in the wild, San Juan Islands. Courtesy of http://sanjuanupdate.com

Resources:
http://www.orcanetwork.org
http://www.miamiseaquarium.com/visitor_info/history.asp
http://www.islandcam.com/orca_page.html