(Trends Wide) — The orca known as Lolita appears to be one step away from returning to its natural habitat in the Pacific Northwest, after performing at a Miami tourist attraction for decades.
The animal was pulled from the ocean in 1970. But after a long dispute over where it belongs, officials from various parties announced a “binding agreement” on Thursday to bring Lolita, also known as Tokitae or Toki, back to its “home waters.” .
“Lolita will receive the highest quality care as the team works to make her relocation possible over the next 18 to 24 months,” Miami Seaquarium said in a statement Thursday.
“I know that Lolita wants to reach open water. I do not care what anyone else says. She has lived so long to have this opportunity. And my only mission is (…) to help free this whale,” said Jim Irsay, the Indianapolis Colts owner who is helping pay for Lolita’s move.
The cost, he said on Thursday, could reach “eight figures.”
The whale tank measures 25 meters by 10 meters
Also present at the press conference this Thursday were Eduardo Albor, executive director of The Dolphin Company, which operates the Miami Seaquarium; Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava; and members of Friends of Lolita.
The Seaquarium says that Lolita is 57 years old.
The orca has not performed since last year, but remains in its tank, which measures 25 meters by 10 meters, Trends Wide affiliate WPLG reported.
Orcas can live up to 90 years, weigh up to 11 tons and grow to almost 10 meters, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, for its acronym in English).
Lolita, a longtime attraction at the Miami Seaquarium, will return to home waters.
Animal advocates said locations that could serve as a natural sea pen have been identified, including one in the waters where Lolita’s family still swims, WPLG reported. Lolita’s 95-year-old mother is believed to still be alive.
“(There is) an opportunity for her to connect acoustically with her family, for sure,” Charles Vinick, executive director of the Whale Sanctuary Project, told the station. “So acoustically, yes, and potentially physically over time.”
The whale will fly across the country and be housed in a natural sea pen in Washington state, where it will be monitored and taught to fish after decades of being fed by its keepers.
That “hopefully will eventually lead her to walk out of the gate, to break free,” Irsay said.
“We are here because we all care deeply about the health and well-being of this beautiful creature, and I am very happy to be a part of this historic announcement to begin the process to return Toki to his native waters,” the mayor said. “Many worked, prayed and waited for this moment for many, many years. The most important thing is Toki’s long-term well-being and together, guided by the experts, we will continue to do what’s best for her.”
‘She’s going to become a symbol’
The Dolphin Company acquired Miami Seaquarium after the dispute over Lolita began.
Albor recalled at the press conference that his engagement to Lolita began when he took his daughter to the marine aquarium and she was upset by the whale’s captivity.
“This goes beyond Lolita,” he said. “She’s going to become a symbol.”
In 2015, NOAA reported that it would add Lolita to the endangered species list as a southern resident killer whale. The population declined between 1965 and 1975 due to harvest for marine parks, NOAA Fisheries said. Whales were added to the endangered species list around 2005.
Activists petitioned NOAA to list Lolita as an endangered resident of the South, saying they never had the right to separate it from Seattle’s killer whale population designation.
