Orca Lolita, whose captivity for more than 50 years at the Miami Seaquarium has sparked controversy among animal protection groups, passed away Friday, reportedly due to a kidney problem, the oceanarium announced.
You will always be in our hearts. Thank you for inspiring us every day pic.twitter.com/4ACXIxiXXI
– Miami Seaquarium (@MiamiSeaquarium) August 19, 2023
“For the past two days, ‘Toki’ has [como também era conhecida a orca] began to show strong signs of discomfort, which his entire medical team immediately and intensively began to treat,” the Miami Seaquarium said on social networks.
However, “despite receiving the best possible medical care, he died on Friday afternoon. It is believed to be a kidney problem,” he added.
Over the past two days, Toki began showing serious signs of discomfort, which her entire Miami Seaquarium and Friends of Toki medical team immediately and aggressively began treating. Despite the best possible medical care, she passed away Friday afternoon… pic.twitter.com/hx79OhGn2O
– Miami Seaquarium (@MiamiSeaquarium) August 18, 2023
According to animal rights activists’ records, Lolita, who was sold to the Miami Seaquarium for about $20,000 in 1970, was confined to a pool about 60 feet long and with a maximum depth of 20 feet.
It was currently being prepared for release in the Pacific waters of the United States, where it originally came from, the activists also said.
Eduardo Albor, president of The Dolphin Company, the company currently responsible for the Miami Seaquarium, also mourned the orca’s death on social media.
This week, local media had reported that the famous orca ate very well and that the oceanarium had even invested thousands of dollars to improve the conditions of the aquarium in which he was found.
“Together with the many people of Miami who grew up visiting Lolita, the generations of activists around the world who were inspired by her story, and the caregivers who remained dedicated to the end, today [sexta-feira] We bid our last farewell to our beloved ‘Toki,'” Miami-Dade County Chief Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement.
In March, Levine Cava had announced that Lolita would be transferred to the waters of the North Pacific, where she was born, for release, a goal not fulfilled with her death.
Lolita was captured in that area in 1970 and taken to the Miami Seaquarium in September of that year.
This oceanarium opened in 1955 on an island in Biscayne Bay and was the setting for the famous television series “Flipper”.
The dimensions were not suitable for an animal of its size, which also suffered from loneliness, as there were no more orcas in those facilities, the activists said.
Source: DN
