Target: Andrew Hertz, General Manager of Miami Seaquarium
Goal: Free Lolita, the orca who has been held captive for 45 years and alone for 35 years.
Campaign update:
Our movement to free Lolita, the orca trapped in a tiny tank at Miami Seaquarium for 45 years, has taken off with thousands of supporters! Now we need your help to turn up the heat and force the Miami Seaquarium to FREE LOLITA.
Let’s bring our message directly to Miami Seaquarium, the institution that is holding Lolita prisoner by posting the following message on Facebook:
Orcas don’t belong in captivity. Lolita has suffered for 45 years @MiamiSeaquarium in her tiny tank. Please send her to a seaside sanctuary. I stand with thousands of activists who have signed this petition calling to #FreeLolita https://forcechange.com/155049/free-lone-orca-stuck-in-tank-for-45-years/
And on Twitter:
Lolita the orca has suffered 45 years @MiamiSeaquarium. Please send her to a seaside sanctuary. #FreeLolita https://forcechange.com/155049/free-lone-orca-stuck-in-tank-for-45-years/
Lolita the orca has been held captive since 1970 and has been alone since her only companion died in 1980. On top of all this, Lolita is the captive orca with the smallest tank in the entire U.S. It is preposterous for Miami Seaquarium, the institution that is holding her prisoner, to say it cares about education, conservation, and the appreciation of all marine species when it is not showing the slightest sign of respect for this creature.
After the exciting news that SeaWorld is ending its orca breeding program at all its locations, Miami Seaquarium was asked about its stance regarding its lone orca, Lolita. Miami Seaquarium announced that it will not be releasing Lolita and “will continue [its] commitment to education, conservation and the appreciation of all marine species.”
Sign this petition and demand Miami Seaquarium bring Lolita to a seaside sanctuary where she can happily live out the rest of her days among other orcas in a more natural environment.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Hertz and Miami Seaquarium,
More and more venues are deciding to end their entertainment shows that involve animals. Your organization is taking a step in the opposite direction. Miami Seaquarium has announced it will keep Lolita the orca in her tiny solitary confinement and continue her shows.
Miami Seaquarium states it will keep Lolita and the show because of its “commitment to education, conservation and the appreciation of all marine species.” Keeping a very social animal in solitary confinement for 35 years in the tiniest orca tank in the U.S. is not showing any appreciation of this creature.
Please practice what you preach and release Lolita to a seaside sanctuary where she can happily live out the rest of her days among other orcas in a more natural environment.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Belissarius
Let her go free
She belongs in the ocean swimming free not in the prison you have built so you can make money from her. It’s cruel they let humans out of jail, what crime as Lolita committed to be kept as a prisoner for 45 years? Do what is right and free her.
I agree.
PEOPLE AT LARGE – LEAVE A MESSAGE, COPY AND PASTE YOUR REPLY ON MIAMI SEAQUARIUM’s website:
http://www.miamiseaquarium.com/hours-and-directions/contact-us
Thank you, Denise. Done!
PETITION SIGNER & PARTAGER SIGNED & SHARED FRIMA
Let her go free, animals are not around for people’s amusement, close all the animal parks, zoos, circuses worldwide, put a stop to this, they need to be free
SHAME on you SEA WORLD ! Taking these Beautiful Creatures from their Natural Environment Supressing their Natural Instincts for UNATURAL ACTS , so you can fill your FILTHY PSHYCOPATHIC POCKETS !!!!!!!
This is NOT Seaworld, this is the Miami Seaquarium. Seaworld would be heaven compared to this hellish place.
Seaworld (ALL of their locations!) can go to hell! I’d be INSANE if I was imprisoned for that long, all alone no less! They don’t give a flying fig about any of the sea creatures they keep as slaves…and that’s exactly what this IS – slavery!
This is NOT Seaworld, this is the Miami Seaquarium. Seaworld would be heaven compared to this hellish place.
I stand corrected, as I read it wrong! Thank you. 🙂
This is unimaginably tragic and inhumane. It is urgent that this very intelligent creature not be made to suffer in isolation any longer.
For the SEAWORLD commenters:
This is NOT Seaworld, this is the Miami Seaquarium. Seaworld would be heaven compared to this hellish place.
I can only hope that someday soon, the people who are responsible for either removing animals from their natural environments or breeding them in order to exhibit and/or exploit them for income and entertainment, understand and experience the cruel deprivation and often, abuse, the animals suffer in confinement. Arbitrary grouping of animals, removal from family groups, unnatural and inadequate living conditions, isolation and lack of stimulation – all are unforgivably perpetuated by people who profess to care for and “love” animals. God bless and protect their innocent victims!
Signed & Shared.
I signed the petition but have concerns: remember “Free Willie” the movie about a lonely Orca kept in a too-small tank in a Mexican aquarium?
After the movie, money was raised to “free” him…..he was eventually purchased and taken to an inlet to “learn” to be a free orca again.
Thanks to a considerable gift of over $7 million from an animal advocate, he was eventually set free….it literally TOOK over $7 million dollars to re teach this orca how to feed himself and survive in the wild……Orcas in the wild live in pods, family groups, with their own “language” and culture…..there is no way to ever know what pods Willie or this orca came from to return them to their “home”……Willie lives a lonely life, not accepted by any other orcas.
People need to realize that just SAYING an orca or any wild animal needs to be “returned” to the wild is not that simple……most or many have lived in captivity literally their entire lives…..and with orcas, there is no way to find their EXACT pod and return them to it…..Will be willing to spend over $7 million dollars to release another orca into the wild to live alone (NOT a normal life for any orca)????
These are my thoughts. I think she’ll die after all those years captive. I can’t sign this, my mind is confused. I just wished they could move her to a better place to be cared.
“The only difference between a dog, cat, horse and dolphin and a cow, chicken, pig and turkey is perception. One is no more valuable than another. And yet in this culture, we hold the former animals in high esteem and the latter we brutalize for food. All animals are deserving of respect and freedom from violence. The way to respect others is veganism.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtWO83pf3Mc
Would any human like to be kept in a small cage for 45 years? And alone for 35 of those 45 years? If not, then let Lolita go free! Because this is cruelty of the worst kind and despicable human behaviour!!
Set her free1!
Education? You are educating children that holding living breathing creatures in untenable surroundings is acceptable. You are doing this for GREED! You are shameful bastards! Orcas thrive in family pods. Educate yourself on orcas, on the effects of imprisoning living breathing creatures before you again make such a blundering statement that exposes your ignorance and callousness. SHAME!
She likely could not survive in the wild so she needs a tank 4 times a big and something to socialize with
Heartbreaking!! Free Lolita and stop using living beings for profit!!
NO animal should ever be locked up!
Cindy Palmer, I agree with you. She has been captive for so long she will die or be killed because she won’t know how to defend her self or probably even search for food because she has been hand fed for years. I don’t like them being captive either they are gods creatures and need to be where they are supposed to be, so focus on the ones that haven’t been caught so they can live a long happy life and let the ones that have known nothing but human care stay where they are.
Let her free!