Orca captured as calf then kept in Miami aquarium for 50 YEARS could be ... trends now
An orca that has been living in a Miami aquarium for 50 years could be returned to the Pacific Ocean after Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay took pity on her.
Lolita the Orca, who is also known as Tokitae, was captured off the coast of Washington in 1970. She has lived most of her life inside the Miami Seaquarium, but that could now be set to change.
The Seaquarium, nonprofit Friends of Lolita, and Irsay announced at a press conference on Tuesday that they are hoping to get Lolita moved back to her native waters.
'I think that she'll be very happy to be back and it will be therapeutic for her contrary to the misconception that it will be stressful,' Howard Garrett of Orca Network told KOMO News.
The orca will not just be dumped in the Pacific to fend for herself, but rather be initially placed in a larger enclosure off Orcas Island that will have clean, deep water where she'll be able to hear other orcas in the area.
Lolita the Orca (pictured in 2014), could return to Puget Sound in Washington after spending decades in captivity
Lolita the Orca, who is also known as Tokitae, was captured off the coast of Washington in 1970 (pictured). She has lived most of her life inside the Miami Seaquarium
'My guess is when she hears them. She will answer right away, so she'll call right back,' Garrett, who has been fighting for Lolita to return to Puget Sound since the 1980s, said. 'This is going to be so exciting when she comes back.'
Past proposals have required NOAA to sign off on moving Lolita across the country, however, it is unclear if the agency has. It is also unclear how the animal would be transported back to the Pacific.
Washington's Lummi Nation, a Native American tribe, traveled to Miami in 2018 to leave a nearly 4,000lb totem pole behind as part of an effort to bring the orca back to Washington. It's part of an $8.5million effort to bring Lolita home, according to CBC.
