E18 - Lolita (Tokitae) the orca - with Captain Watson

In today's episode of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation podcast, I get the chance to speak with Captain Watson about the announcement that Lolita may be released from her prison at the Miami Seaquarium in Florida.  Lolita is a Southern Resident Killer Whale taken from her family (the L Pod) at the age of 4 back in 1970.  She was sold to the Miami Seaquarium at this young age and used to earn a profit for her owners.  Lolita currently lives in a very small tank - it is about 80ft x 35ft and is about 20 ft deep in the middle.  Not much room at all for a 20 ft long orca. 

Paul and I go over the issues with the recent announcement that Lolita is going to be freed.  The process of getting Lolita back to the Pacific Northwest is going to take a long time, about 2 years.  In those 2 years a lot can go wrong. 

The Dolphin Company recently purchased the Miami Seaquarium.  The Dolphin Company later was told by the government that Lolita can no longer perform for the public.  The announcement to free Lolita seems like a business tactic by The Dolphin Company to unload a useless and expensive asset.  It costs a lot of money to feed and care for an orca in captivity.  By offering to release Lolita, they can get good publicity while at the same time getting rid of an animal that is only costing them money and giving them bad press.  Regardless of the motivations for this announcement, it is our hope that there is a positive outcome for Lolita, she has been forced to live on her own for a long time in a concrete prison.

Captain Paul Watson wrote a book on orcas in captivity called ORCAPEDIA.  If you'd like to know more about this topic, this is a great resource.

https://shop.paulwatson.com/products/orcapedia

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