European-Owned Miami Seaquarium Must Free Lolita as France Bans Orca Captivity
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FROM PETA.org
October 2020

Since Parques Reunidos owns the Miami Seaquarium and Marineland in Antibes, France, the cetaceans at both parks should be released.

Lolita... 50 years at Miami Seaquarium...

France has made an historic announcement that it's imposing a ban on breeding or acquiring orcas and other dolphins for marine parks and that there will be a transition period for moving the existing captive ones to sea sanctuaries. So PETA's crying, chained "orca" will lead activists—including model and online influencer Natasha Araos—in a lively protest outside the Miami Seaquarium, demanding that the orca Lolita also be sent to a seaside sanctuary. PETA points out that since Parques Reunidos owns the Miami Seaquarium and Marineland in Antibes, France, the cetaceans at both parks should be released.

For 50 years, Lolita has been denied the opportunity to dive, swim much farther than the length of her body in any direction, seek shelter from the blazing Florida sun, or form social relationships with others of her own species. The other orca once kept in the same tank, Hugo, died after repeatedly ramming his head into a wall in 1980. Humans go mad after a short time when confined without any human companionship, and Lolita displays repetitive and abnormal behavior indicating severe mental anguish.

"The tide has turned on imprisoning highly intelligent, far-ranging orcas and depriving them of any semblance of a life, just to make a buck," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA is calling on the Miami Seaquarium to end its disgusting decades-long torture of Lolita now."

PETA also sent a letter [see PDF] calling on Parques Reunidos—which has a new CEO and was recently acquired by a private company based in Sweden—to embrace its "new normal" and finally do right by Lolita. 

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