The Miami Seaquarium said it had reached a “binding agreement” with the nonprofit Amigos de Lolita to return the whale, which was recently removed from performance, to an oceanic habitat in the Pacific Northwest within two years.
Lolita, a 57-year-old orca captured in 1970 in a Seattle cove, is also known as Toki, short for the whale’s name, Tokitae, which comes from Native Americans, the Miami Herald reported. The plan to return Lolita to the wild requires federal approval, according to the newspaper.
The process to return Lolita to her “native waters” took years to come, starting with the transfer of ownership of the aquarium to The Dolphin Co, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a conference press. The company later partnered with a non-profit organization to provide medical care for the whale.
The Seaquarium’s previous owner, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc SEAS.N, phased out orca shows in 2016. Lolita, once a top attraction at the Seaquarium, was withdrawn from shows in March 2022 after management changed hands.
“Finding a better future for Lolita is one of the reasons that motivated us to acquire the Miami Seaquarium,” Eduardo Albor, CEO of The Dolphin Co., said in a statement.
The push to free Lolita gathered steam after the 2013 documentary “Blackfish” highlighted the captivity of orcas.
Animal rights advocates fought unsuccessfully for years in court to win Lolita’s release after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration listed orcas as endangered species in 2015.
Orcas are highly social mammals that have no natural predators and can live up to 80 years.