Lolita was taken from her family when she was just 4 years old. Handed over to the Miami Seaquarium for $6,000, she was forced into a life of captivity and has been made to perform day after day for more than half a century.

According to marine welfare watchdog organization Sea World of Hurt¹, Lolita is now the only surviving member of the pod of 90 orcas she once belonged to.

Lolita has been confined to one of the smallest tanks in the United States. Measuring merely 35 feet wide, the cramped environment fails to meet any requirements of the Animal Welfare Act set up nearly 15 years before her tragic capture off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. It's been more than two and a half decades since Lolita has even seen another orca, and as the Dodo reports², her declining health is an obvious sign of mistreatment.

She is slathered with zinc oxide to prevent sunburn in the unnaturally clear waters of her tank. She is also forced to allow Seaquarium staff to ride on her for entertainment.

Lolita has been called "the loneliest orca in the world," and it's likely the isolation has contributed in no small way to her mounting physical issues.

"[Lolita] has been diagnosed with a pterygium, also called 'surfer's eye,'" writes Dr. Pedro Javier Gallego Reyes, veterinarian and cofounder of marine biology association Odyssea. "This is caused by excessive exposure to UV radiation [and] leads to discomfort, and can cause a significant alteration in visual function."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration³ has included Lolita, also known as Tokitae, in a list of endangered species, although this designation has done little to convince the Miami Seaquarium to release her. NOAA maintains that plans to move or release Lolita would require a permit from NOAA Fisheries and rigorous scientific review. Furthermore, "Previous attempts to release captive killer whales and dolphins have often been unsuccessful and some have ended tragically with the death of the released animal," the administration asserts.

Were the ailing orca freed from captivity, marine biologist Ken Balcomb has posited a "Comprehensive Retirement Plan" for Lolita⁴. The proposed system would help acclimate her back to the Pacific Northwest by way of an unconfined natural seawater pen in the Greater Puget Sound she could freely traverse.

There is no excuse for the continued imprisonment and forced exhibition of orcas within the United States. Tell the Eastern Regional Director of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Office of the Inspector General that Lolita must be retired to her native habitat in the Pacific Northwest immediately!

More on this issue:

1. Sea World of Hurt, PETA, "Captured and Enslaved: The Story Behind Lolita."
2. Sarah V Schweigr (18 August 2016), "World's Loneliest Orca Is So Sick She Can Barely Even See."
3. NOAA Fisheries | West Coast Region (10 February 2015), "Southern Resident Killer Whale - Lolita - Included in Endangered Listing."
4. Orca Network (April 1995), "Marine Biologist Ken Balcomb's Comprehensive Retirement Plan."