The Killer Whale Of Lolita Will Return To Its Habitat In The West Pacific After 50 Years Of Being A Aquarium Show Star

Lolita's appearance at the Miami Seaquarium. (Wikimedia Commons/Leonardo Dasilva)

JAKARTA - The Aquarium in Florida, United States has reached an agreement with animal rights advocates to free Lolita, a killer whale weighing 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) that has been kept for more than half a century, officials said on Thursday.

The Miami Seaquarium says it has reached a "binding agreement" with the nonprofit Friends of Lolita, to return the recently retired whale from this show to marine habitat in the Northwest Pacific within two years.

Lolita, a 57-year-old orca whale captured in 1970 in a bay off the coast of Seattle, also known as Toki, the name that stands for the whale's real name, Tokitae, the Miami Herald reports. Plans to return Lolita to its natural habitat require federal approval, according to the newspaper.

The process of returning Lolita to its "original waters" took years, starting with the transfer of aquarium ownership to The Dolphin Co, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference.

The company then partnered with non-profit organizations to provide medical care for the whale.

"Lolita will receive the best quality care as the team works to allow relocation in the next 18 to 24 months," Miami Seaquarium said in a statement on Thursday.

"I know Lolita wants to reach free waters. I don't care what people say. She's lived all this time to get this opportunity. And my only mission is... to help this whale free," said Jim Irsay, owner of Indianapolis totalis who helped finance the transfer of Lolita.

He said on Thursday that the cost could reach "eight digits."

The previous owner of Seaquarium, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., stopped a killer whale show in 2016. Lolita, once a major attraction in Seaquarium, was retired from a show in March 2022 after management changed hands.

"Finding a better future for Lolita is one of the reasons that motivated us to acquire the Miami Seaquarium," said Dolphin Co. Chief Executive Eduardo Albor, in a statement.

Great news! Toki’s appetite has increased, she is more active and is playing with her trainers. These are hopeful signs! Her care team has been with her around the clock. Thank you for the prayers and well wishes! - @eduardoalbor pic.twitter.com/781FjdrrQz

— Miami Seaquarium (@MiamiSeaquarium) October 8, 2022

Separately, advocates say locations for natural marine cages have been identified, including in waters that the Lolita family still frequently passes through, according to a WPLG report. Lolita's 95-year-old mother is believed to be still alive.

"(There is) an opportunity for him to be acoustically connected to his family, without any doubt," Charles Vinick, executive director of the Pope's Nature Project, told the television station.

Before being released, Lolita will be placed in a natural marine cage in Washington State, where she will be monitored and taught how to fish after decades of being fed by a handler.

It is "expected to allow this whale to eventually get out of the cage, be free, and return to its flock," said Irsay.

The push to free Lolita gained momentum after the 2013 documentary "Blackfish" highlighted orca whale breeding.

Supporters of animal rights for years struggled fruitlessly in court to release Lolita, after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) entered the endangered species list in 2015.

Killer whales are highly social mammals that have no natural predators and can live up to 80 years.