MIAMI — Federal officials are deciding whether to include a killer whale living at Miami Seaquarium in a family of wild orcas declared endangered in 2005.
Activists who want to return Lolita to the Pacific Northwest say the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s decision could pave the way to sending the orca home.
The activists hope to buy Lolita and move the orca to a protected cove near the San Juan Islands.
But Seaquarium officials say Lolita isn’t going anywhere. Seaquarium’s curator of animals, Robert Rose, tells The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/1G7D1uq ) that Lolita is not for sale and will not be released.
Lolita was captured in 1970. Rose says the orca would not survive in the wild, but activists say the 20-foot-long marine mammal would thrive if reunited with its pod.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
