March 11th 2008
Johnny Depp and Snoop Dogg Team Up To Free Lolita
Together at last.
Filed under: animals — michael @ 10:28 am
Johnny Depp and Snoop Dogg are joining forces with Harrison Ford, Fifty Cent, R&B singer Truth Hurts, and several politicians to appeal for the release of Lolita the killer whale. Currently, Lolita is being held in the Miami Seaquarium where she has been performing for about 37 years. She is now is 20 feet long, weighs 7,000 pounds, and lives in a tank that measures 80 feet across at its widest and 20 feet deep. Howard Garrett, who with Susan Berta founded the Orca Network are the organized force behind the freedom rally. From the article,
“Newsweek says Levy is working on a benefit concert that would support the Lolita movement. ‘This beautiful animal does not deserve to die in a stinky little tank, and we are not going to take less than a full victory,’ Levy told Newsweek. Garrett said it’s too early to announce any particular concert plans but admitted that ‘we’re working on it. Momentum is building,’ he said. ‘A publicity campaign is in the works being directed by people in Hollywood.’”
Organizers say that Lolita’s best chance at survival would be in the waters of San Juan Island’s Kanaka Bay, which was used to hold killer whales during the roundup days of the 1970s. She could stay with her trainers and staff from Seaquarium before acclimating and venturing off on her own. Garrett discredits those who believe she’s too tame to return to the wild saying, “The idea that she’s habituated, that she’d be totally out of her element if she were brought back, ignores the intelligence of the species and their family bonding for life.”
Poor Lolita.
I’m with Brookie.
How is it that it has taken 37 years to realise our inhumanity to other species, why does it take ‘hollywood’ to raise awareness? Free the poor whale now and stop procrastinating.
Me too. And you should really not call her a killer whale- the correct name is Orca- killer whale is misleading and negative.
I live here on San Juan Island.. and everytime I see L Pod, (Lolita’s family)… I wish for nothing more than to see here be reunited with her family. I think people are underestimating this incredible species. She has survived in what I think of as a “Whale bathtub” for 37 years…. if she can survive there….. she can survive with her pod. She deserves a real chance at a real life.
Life would still be challenging if she was released but most anything is better than living in such a cramped and isolated space. I think this points to the need for an international moratorium on the capturing of whales and dolphins for the aquarium trade more than anything else. Unfortuanately dolphins are still being caught for the trade, especially by Japanese fishermen. Boycott aquariums!