Free Lolita! A Whale Story

How dare you point the finger and degrade someone who is housing a captive Orca, when you yourself seem to forget the opportunities you've had from study, learning, and experiences that were all made available to you because of the capture and housing of other marine mammals. You wouldn't have the degree you have if you did not partake in supporting those practices by buying the books, supporting the studies, and who knows what other means you have yourself participated in...that all were made possible by the study of captive marine mammals. You have no business calling Mr. Hertz's speech ignorant concerning that he never said anyting about her being content...if you want to rip apart what he said then try and do so on something he actually did say. But, because you are becoming quite infamous now for thinking and feeling on other animal's (and now) people's behalf, you should know that if anyone in this world has any idea of what that animal thinks or feels, it would be the people that see her and interact with her everyday. Go to her trainer's that care for her everday and spend hours with her on end, communicating the best way they know how, and ask their experienced opinion. They have no real obligation to the Miami Seaquarium that would hinder them from saying their honest feelings and opinions about Lolita and her situation. They aren't there for the money, if you had any clue what these trainers make then you would be in complete shock. I seriously doubt this place has really made hardly a fraction of the amount you are claiming. Do you have any idea how much it costs to feed a 7,000lb animal everyday? Do you have any idea how much it cost to treat the water, and maintain the tank...the cleaning involved? The cost of veterinary care, staffing, and multiple upkeep of records and logs. In order for them to make a serious profit then they would more than likely have to fill the park everyday of people and hope they all buy souvenirs and photos. In any case, the point is, that until you can come up with something that tells me you have spent countless hours with Lolita, getting to know her, and strongly believe that you know how she feels and thinks, don't bother speaking on her behalf. Try asking someone who does have the most credible credentials and knowledge about the animal in question, someone who has spent countless hours with her, and has the best position of anyone else to speak for her.

I believe that we need to leave the animals in their natural habitat. Animals just don't do these types of tricks naturally so why are we forcing them to do things for our entertainment. Next time you look in the mirror ask yourself if you like your freedom or would you rather be placed in a cage and forced to do tricks for someone else's entertainment.

Incidentally...why don't we request that Lolita have a larger area built for her. I don't doubt she is better off where she is with her 38 year good health and human pod...but she needs more room.
If the powers that be in Florida really care about her, they will expand her living area.
How about it?

Well, Sir, since you support the Movie Stars helping your scientific crusade to experiment further in the desire to move a healthy Lolita to a environmentally unhealthy Puget Sound... you shouldn't mind betting $10,000. that she will live beyond one year of the move. The check to be made out to Harrison Medical Center, Pulmonary Department, Bremerton, WA...that Lolita will live on in the name of COPD (Chronic Oppresive Pulmonary Disease) the 4th leading killer in the U.S., 5th in the world.

IF ITS FELT THE RISK TO HER HEALTH IS TO GREAT FOR A CROSS COUNTRY TRIP, AND THE UNSURITY OF HER BEING ABLE TO BE STRONG ENOUGH IN THE WILD, COULDN'T SOME OF THIS "HOLLYWOOD" MONEY BE SPENT TO BUILD HER A LARGER, DEEPER TANK SO THAT HER LIFE COULD BE AT LEAST IMPROVED IN HER LATER YEARS. ALSO, COULD THEY INTRODUCE FISH INTO SAID TANK TO SEE IF SHE COULD LEARN TO HUNT FOR HER FOOD AGAIN, OR AT LEAST GIVE HER THE STIMULIS OF A MORE NATURAL LIFE. KELLY IN AZ

In response to Mr. Arthur Hertzt, orcas are not pets. No matter how long Lolita has been imprisoned, she will never fully acclimate to being confined to a small tank in comparison with her natural habitat. It is extremely arrogant for humans to think that we are the only ones who can be rehabilitated back into our own societies. Orcas are the mammals most closely aligned with the same thinking process of human beings. It is a reasonable conclusion to me and my fellow colleagues of aquatic science and marine biology, that this magnificent creature has willed herself to live based primarily on the hope of freedom and reconnection to her natural family. This mammal is not part of your family; she was forcibly removed from her natural habitat and she has her own family waiting for her. Your ignorant speech about Lolita being content in such a confining environment is frivolous. It appears your main concern is monetary profit. You have already amassed over one hundred million(100,000,000 ) dollars from her forced captivity. How much more do you want? We, the leading scientists in this field of study, concur that the abuse of solitary confinement to this mammal needs to cease. We don't believe any animal deserves to be confined for the rest of their life in such conditions. Mr. Hearst, with all due respect, you are a greedy man. My colleagues and I 100% support the Hollywood community who have spoken out on this issue.

Dr.Mukhametov

Russia

In response to Mr. Arthur Hearst, orcas are not pets. No matter how long Lolita has been imprisoned, she will never fully acclimate to being confined to a small tank in comparison with her natural habitat. It is extremely arrogant for humans to think that we are the only ones who can be rehabilitated back into our own societies. Orcas are the mammals most closely aligned with the same thinking process of human beings. It is a reasonable conclusion to me and my fellow colleagues of aquatic science and marine biology, that this magnificent creature has willed herself to live based primarily on the hope of freedom and reconnection to her natural family. This mammal is not part of your family; she was forcibly removed from her natural habitat and she has her own family waiting for her. Your ignorant speech about Lolita being content in such a confining environment is frivolous. It appears your main concern is monetary profit. You have already amassed over one hundred million(100,000,000 ) dollars from her forced captivity. How much more do you want? We, the leading scientists in this field of study, concur that the abuse of solitary confinement to this mammal needs to cease. We don't believe any animal deserves to be confined for the rest of their life in such conditions. Mr. Hearst, with all due respect, you are a greedy man. My colleagues and I 100% support the Hollywood community who have spoken out on this issue.

Dr.Mukhametov

Russia

In response to Mr. Arthur Hearst, orcas are not pets. No matter how long Lolita has been imprisoned, she will never fully acclimate to being confined to a small tank in comparison with her natural habitat. It is extremely arrogant for humans to think that we are the only ones who can be rehabilitated back into our own societies. Orcas are the mammals most closely aligned with the same thinking process of human beings. It is a reasonable conclusion to me and my fellow colleagues of aquatic science and marine biology, that this magnificent creature has willed herself to live based primarily on the hope of freedom and reconnection to her natural family. This mammal is not part of your family; she was forcibly removed from her natural habitat and she has her own family waiting for her. Your ignorant speech about Lolita being content in such a confining environment is frivolous. It appears your main concern is monetary profit. You have already amassed over one hundred million(100,000,000 ) dollars from her forced captivity. How much more do you want? We, the leading scientists in this field of study, concur that the abuse of solitary confinement to this mammal needs to cease. We don't believe any animal deserves to be confined for the rest of their life in such conditions. Mr. Hearst, with all due respect, you are a greedy man. My colleagues and I 100% support the Hollywood community who have spoken out on this issue.

In response to Mr. Arthur Hearst, orcas are not pets. No matter how long Lolita has been imprisoned, she will never fully acclimate to being confined to a small tank in comparison with her natural habitat. It is extremely arrogant for humans to think that we are the only ones who can be rehabilitated back into our own societies. Orcas are the mammals most closely aligned with the same thinking process of human beings. It is a reasonable conclusion to me and my fellow colleagues of aquatic science and marine biology, that this magnificent creature has willed herself to live based primarily on the hope of freedom and reconnection to her natural family. This mammal is not part of your family; she was forcibly removed from her natural habitat and she has her own family waiting for her. Your ignorant speech about Lolita being content in such a confining environment is frivolous. It appears your main concern is monetary profit. You have already amassed over one hundred million(100,000,000 ) dollars from her forced captivity. How much more do you want? We, the leading scientists in this field of study, concur that the abuse of solitary confinement to this mammal needs to cease. We don't believe any animal deserves to be confined for the rest of their life in such conditions. Mr. Hearst, with all due respect, you are a greedy man. My colleagues and I 100% support the Hollywood community who have spoken out on this issue.

In response to Mr. Arthur Hearst, orcas are not pets. No matter how long Lolita has been imprisoned, she will never fully acclimate to being confined to a small tank in comparison with her natural habitat. It is extremely arrogant for humans to think that we are the only ones who can be rehabilitated back into our own societies. Orcas are the mammals most closely aligned with the same thinking process of human beings. It is a reasonable conclusion to me and my fellow colleagues of aquatic science and marine biology, that this magnificent creature has willed herself to live based primarily on the hope of freedom and reconnection to her natural family. This mammal is not part of your family; she was forcibly removed from her natural habitat and she has her own family waiting for her. Your ignorant speech about Lolita being content in such a confining environment is frivolous. It appears your main concern is monetary profit. You have already amassed over one hundred million(100,000,000 ) dollars from her forced captivity. How much more do you want? We, the leading scientists in this field of study, concur that the abuse of solitary confinement to this mammal needs to cease. We don't believe any animal deserves to be confined for the rest of their life in such conditions. Mr. Hearst, with all due respect, you are a greedy man. My colleagues and I 100% support the Hollywood community who have spoken out on this issue.

A small correction first off, the bottom right photo should be credited to my self, Sean Jacob.

I had once visited the Miami Seaquarium a few years ago ona faily regulare basis, providing Howard, et al with postings of my observations. I may only be a layman but she did seem well cared for and changes were made that I could see, at least in the public viewings for the better.

Over the time I spent visiting the Seaquarium (late 2003 till mid 2005) Iw as able to watch Lolita and develop a small idea of her personality and over all being. To me she seemed like other have said "adjusted", but at the same time some days showed a lack of life about her when compaired as I see know to her "cousins" at Sea World. I'm not one to advocate her release but, at the same time feel that upgrades to the current facilty are warrented.

Thank you,
Sean Jacob

Hertz says that Lolita is home. I beg to differ. She comes from expansive, unenclosed waters. She comes from a place where interaction with humans is a fluke rather than a daily occurrence. Who is he kidding? Poor Lolita is an abused child who is experiencing Stockholm syndrome: she bonds with her predators because it keeps her alive. If she were allowed to become re-acclimated to her native waters (if that's even possible now), it would be my hope that she could encounter Hertz on a swim. Without devices to scare and trick her, she would show her home turf advantage. Capturing these animals ruins their lives. While their lives in the wild may be brutal and short, at least they must not experience the stresses of living around humans and in confined spaces.

Miami Seaquarium appreciates the opportunity Newsweek gave us last week to provide feedback for this story. I must say that I am disappointed that in our 40 minute conversation with the Reporter, most of the items discussed were not included in this article despite their importance and relevance to the issue. I am therefore taking this opportunity to clarify some salient points that were never addressed in the story.

First and foremost, Lolita???s life will not be treated as an experiment. She has been a part of the Miami Seaquarium family for almost 4 decades and to suggest that she is a candidate for release is scientifically unfounded. It is well documented that Puget Sound is heavily contaminated with pollutants and to make any attempt to take her from a known situation where she is healthy and well cared for to one where every decision is based on so many unknowns would only be a misguided act of animal cruelty.

Consider the sad story of Keiko. Due to serious health issues experienced when he was housed in Mexico, he was brought to Oregon where animal care experts and others of science worked very hard for three years to help him get healthy. Sadly, misguided activists overrode the best opinions of science and moved him to waters off Iceland, to ???be with his family.??? He was never accepted by other whales and was never able to be self-sufficient and eventually died alone in a sea pen in Norway. He died far, far away from the people who made the fatal decision to set him ???free???

In our conversations with the Newsweek reporter, we provided contact information for experts who were intimately involved in the release of Keiko. These Project Managers worked directly on the project and could have provided an insightful and factual glance of what really happened in the unfortunate Keiko story. They were never contacted.

The Keiko story was a tragedy that could and should have been avoided. The similarities between the Keiko release and what some people are asking us to do with Lolita are too great to ignore. To believe that the outcome of experimenting with the release of another killer whale would be different is na??ve at best. Miami Seaquarium is not willing to take this chance with Lolita???s life.

Lolita will remain here at Miami Seaquarium surrounded by people who love and protect her. To do anything else would be unconscionable.

Andrew Hertz
General Manager
Miami Seaquarium

hi