The 6-meter Lolita has lived in a pool that is only 26 by 11 meters in size. According to critics, it is far too small for a whale.
The Miami Marine Aquarium in Florida plans to release Lolita, the killer whale it has owned since 1970, says British Broadcasting Corporation BBC (switch to another service).
Animal rights activists have long demanded the release of the whale. The 6-meter Lolita has lived in a pool that is only 26 by 11 meters in size. According to critics, it is far too small for a whale.
Lolita was caught by professional whalers together with local fishermen in the Puget Sound in the state of Washington, USA. They made money by catching live whales and selling them to amusement parks.
Victoria University professor who studied Lolita’s background Jason Colby tells the BBC that up to 90 whales were caught in the fishermen’s nets, which was almost the entire Puget Sound whale population. The conservationists managed to break the nets and release most of the animals, but a few whales remained in the traps.
Lolita was released on the coast of Canada, where she lived her youth. However, after a long captivity, it no longer knows how to feed itself, so it ends up in a closed sea bay, where it is fed. Lolita still recognizes her home waters and can hear the sounds of other killer whales.
See also the Avara luonto documentary series, which also follows the lives of whales: