Lolita Update #109
Capture Event; Walk for Lolita; The Cove premieres nationwide
July 30, 2009

39 years ago, in Penn Cove, a family of orcas was circled with nets.
The young ones were shipped away for entertainment.

Orca Network invites you to our annual
Penn Cove Orca Capture Commemoration
Sunday, August 9th, 2009, 4 -7- pm

Coupeville, Whidbey Island, Washington
At the Coupeville Rec Hall, Alexander & Coveland St.
In memory of the 45 Southern Resident orcas captured in Washington State, and the 13 orcas killed during the captures; and in honor of Lolita, the sole survivor~

The evening will feature newly discovered film and commentary from the 1971 Penn Cove orca capture by the late Don McGaffin, KING 5 TV reporter.

Cost is $20/person
Purchase tickets by contacting: E-Mail
360.678.3451 or at the door

Also:
We'll show Perchance to Dream, an animated film by Lauren Kimball depicting Lolita's dreams, fears and her current reality.

Displays of historic photos of the 1970 Penn Cove orca capture
by Wallie Funk & Dr. Terry Newby
Appetizers & Hoodsport Orca Wine
Silent Auction
Waterside Ceremony

Walk for Lolita

Saturday, August 8, Noon to 2 PM along Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne

On August 8, 2009, 39 years after Lolita's capture off the coast of Washington State a walk will be held to urge Seaquarium owner Arthur Hertz to retire his lone orca back to her natural waters. The "Walk for Lolita" will be composed of 30-50 body painted activists walking from the first beach on Key Biscayne up to the Seaquarium's parking lot entrance in barely anything more than paint. They will be handing out flyers on the beaches and attracting a large amount of onlookers. The walk starts at the first beach on Key Biscayne at 12:00 PM and will end around 2:00 PM at a demonstration in front of the Miami Seaquarium.

Shelby Proie in collaboration with Orca Network invites fellow Miami residents and media to come out and support this cause. We hope to see Lolita retired into a sea pen in her native Pacific Northwest waters where she will be taken care of for the rest of her life unless she chooses to rejoin her pod that lives there as well. Lolita has been living in an illegal tank at the Seaquarium for the past 39 years.

Hugo, an Orca captured 2 years earlier from the same pod as Lolita, killed himself at the Seaquarium in 1980 by bashing his head off of the illegal tank after showing strong signs of depression. The concern from coast to coast is that Lolita has done her time in living quarters too small and unsafe in this dated arena. Information on Lolita, the CNN Headline News interview with Shelby Proie can be found at www.orcanetwork.org and www.savelolita.com.

Ric O'Barry is going to be there and we expect good media coverage. Shelby and volunteers will be doing body painting that morning, then walking from the first beach before the bridge (after the tolls) on Key Biscayne up to the SQ! Meeting time is 12 Noon at the beach and earlier if you want to come get body painted!

The Cove

A documentary about dolphins, and how the marine mammal captivity industry fuels dolphin slaughters

Reviews:

In a Killing Cove, Siding With Dolphins
- New York Times

'Cove' a disturbing look inside the lucrative world of dolphin hunts - (Webmaster Note: Links Dead)
- Canadian Press
The Cove is a celebration of dolphins and a damnation of Japanese policies and indifference
- Film Journal

Eat Flipper? Stealthy filmmakers spotlight Japanese dolphin slaughter in The Cove
- Scientific American: The Cove' will change how you look at dolphins This riveting documentary exposes dolphin slaughter in Japan
- MSNBC

The Cove is the rare documentary specifically designed as a thriller
- Entertainment Weekly
Ben Stiller Flips for Dolphins!
- The New York Observer

The premier of The Cove in cities around the United States will be on Friday August 7th.

In Miami, this gripping and highly informative film will show at theaters in Aventura Mall, Sunset Place in South Miami, and Lincoln Rd on Miami Beach, and we need more volunteers to help hand out flyers in front and gather email addresses for an hour or so that Friday night and throughout the weekend, so if you're interested let me know and I can get you a free hat and t-shirt! You should definitly get people to come out and see the movie, it is great! I will be volunteering by handing out flyers in front of the Aventura mall theater on Friday August 7th, other volunteers are needed in South Florida and around the country. If you can donate some of your time contact Shelby.

In Seattle we are asking for volunteers to commit to a 4-hour shift at the Harvard Exit Theater in Seattle the weekend of Friday, August 7th to Sunday, August 9th to hand out informational brochures about the annual dolphin slaughter so that viewers will have further information about the issue and ways they can help. We're looking to put together a group of 20 volunteers as soon as possible. Each volunteer will receive a 100% organic "Save Japan Dolphins" t-shirt and cap by EcoJoia.

If you are interested in volunteering at the Seattle location, either for a shift or as Seattle Cove Captain, please respond as soon as possible to: Leslie Chang, Earth Island Institute

"The Cove" is an eye opening documentary about former "Flipper" trainer Ric O'Barry turned activist exposing the dolphin drive fisheries/slaughters that happen in Taiji, Japan every year. It shows how over 23,000 dolphins are killed from these barbaric events every year. Fishermen say the dolphin slaughters are a form of "pest control" because the dolphins are eating too manyfish. The dolphins caught are slaughtered and sold as mercury contaminated meat or sold to the captive marine mammal park industry around the world. This amazing documentary shows how the captive marine mammal industry fuels these slaughters by paying top dollar for live "good looking" specimens to put on display. This is a must see for animal lovers everywhere.

Thank you,
Howard and Susan
Orca Network

Much is going on to help bring Lolita home and to inform and advocate for her and her family Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to help Orca Network continue this work. Thank you!