In Miami, USA, 57-year-old killer whale Lolita died. Doctors diagnosed her with suspected kidney disease, but they could not save her, according to a tweet from the local aquarium.
For the last two days of her life, Lolita reportedly experienced severe stomach discomfort. The aquarium has announced that it will be closed for a while so that our team can reflect on Lolita’s life and legacy.
According to animal rights activists, Lolita was brutally captured in Penn Cove, off the coast of Washington state, on August 8, 1970, when she was about four years old. The orca was then sold to the Miami Aquarium.
In March, the aquarium promised to release Lolita to freedom. Before this, animal rights activists and activists have long sought to return the killer whale to its native waters. At the same time, Lolita’s guardians believed that she would not be able to survive in the wild “after more than 50 years in human care.”
“Our common desire was to see Toki in her native waters, and we are heartbroken to learn of this sudden loss,” Miami Mayor Daniella Levin Kawa said.
Lolita lived with the male killer whale Hugo for the first 10 years in captivity. Hugo died in 1980 due to a brain aneurysm, according to the nonprofit Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project.