Lolita to remain in captivity after court ruling
A federal appeals court in the US has upheld a ruling that Lolita, the orca held in solitary confinement at the Miami Seaquarium in Florida, should remain at the park.
A group of NGOs had alleged that the tank in which she is held violates animal government welfare standards. The court decided that while they “are sensitive to the plight of Lolita and other animals exhibited across the country”, they found that the US Department of Agriculture complied with the law when it renewed the Seaquarium’s licence to display Lolita.
The ruling comes just months after Lolita was included in the endangered species listing for the Southern resident population of orcas living off the north-west coast of the US. She was taken from this population in 1970 during the infamous Penn Cove captures, which resulted in several orca deaths. Lolita is the second longest surviving orca in captivity after Corky.
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Photo: Underdog Entertainment
