In August 1970, in the waters of the Puget Sound of Washington State, a pod of killer whales were attacked and rounded up by a group of killer whale herders, led by Ted Griffiths and Don Goldsberry.  Using speedboats and releasing explosives in the water, they forced the orcas into Penn Cove. Babies were separated from their mothers, as the infants were prime candidates to be sold to aquariums.  The orca mothers would not leave their children and cried human-like screams in vain.    One adult and four baby killer whales were killed during this capture.  The herders, in an attempt to keep the orca deaths from the public, slit open the bellies of the dead animals, filled them with rocks, and sank the creatures with anchors, hoping they would never be discovered.

One of the orca infants captured was a 4 year old  named Tokitae, who was sold to the Miami Seaquarium.   She arrived at the marine park on September 24, 1970, where she was renamed ‘Lolita’ and has lived  there ever since.  She performs tricks during her scheduled shows, and has done so for the past forty years.

Lolita’s tank that she calls home is dreadfully small, about the size of a hotel swimming pool.

It is now known that killer whales are incredibly intelligent, sentient creatures that in the wild are very social.  Lolita, being a female, would still be living with her mother today.  Resident killer whales, which Lolita is, stay with their mothers their entire lives.  Lolita still  vocalizes her pod’s calls.  She currently lives alone in her tank  with no other killer whale companions.  When not performing in her show, Lolita floats listlessly in her tank, all by herself.  In the wild, killer whales swim hundreds of miles a day, diving as deep as 500 feet.  In her tank, she swims in circles inside the 35 foot wide area and can only go as deep as 20 feet, in a small area in the center of the tank.

Killer whales are incredibly sensitive to sound.  In the wild, they avoid loud noises.  They use a type of natural sonar called Echolocation, to navigate in the water and to locate objects.  Living in a concrete pool is torture for an animal that uses this type of heightened sense, as their sound waves bounce off of the walls in the concrete tank.  This stressed the animal to no end.  This is why no tank, no matter how big, is not the same as the open ocean and is considered a prison as far as the animal is concerned.

Lolita is the oldest living killer whale in captivity.

VIEW ACTUAL FILM FOOTAGE OF LOLITA’S CAPTURE FROM 1970

VIDEO OF LOLITA’S LIFE FROM CAPTURE TO CAPTIVITY