Lolita Update #61
May 4, 2003

Dear Friends of Lolita~

Demo at the Miami Seaquarium Mother's Day, May 11th, to help raise awareness and Free Lolita! If you can't make the demo, please join us in sending a Mother's Day Letter for Lolita, asking for her freedom (see info. at end of this message or go HERE for letter-writing tips.
Please make a note of it, and pass this email on to everyone! Orca Network will be having a Mother's Day demo on behalf of Lolita (and all the other animals trapped in captivity, who are exploited for human entertainment).

When: Sunday, May 11th--Mother's day Where: Miami Seaquarium Time: 11am-4pm (We will be there the entire time. Whatever time you can give will be greatly appreciated) Directions: Miami Seaquarium, 4400 Rickenbacker Causeway (Directions)

From the North
Take I-95 South, Exit 1 (Miami Seaquarium), and follow the signs to Key Biscayne and Rickenbacker Causeway. The seaquarium will be on your right.

From the South
Take US1 North, exit to right just before the on-ramp to I-95, and follow the signs to Key Biscayne and Rickenbacker Causeway.
Do not park in the seaquarium parking lot! You can park just before the seaquarium in the park by the water, or just past the seaquarium lot.
Please try to make it...we need all of your voices. :-)

Also, Lolita: Slave to Entertainment -- We will be having a free screening of our film this Sunday, May 4th at 6pm. (Official Website)

ADDRESS: 516 SW 18 St, #1, Ft. Lauderdale

DIRECTIONS: from I-95--head east on St. Rd. 84 (Marina Mile) to 9th St. (you will see a Dunkin Donuts on your left). Make a left on 9th (north), make a right on 18 st. and head east for about 3 blocks. You will see 516 #1 on your right between 6th Ave and 4th Ave.
Please try and make the screening. This film will help answer all of your questions about Lolita's life. If you have any questions, please email Val Silidker or call 954-562-4981.

Quick Facts:

• Lolita, the beautiful orca imprisoned in the Miami Seaquarium, was kidnapped from her family in Puget Sound in 1970.

• Though a young adult, she is the oldest captive killer whale in the world, having outlived all 44 others captured from her family by over 15 years.

• Lolita has been kept in the world's oldest and smallest tank--a chlorinated cement pool that is illegal according to the Animal Welfare Act.

• In the wild, orcas have a life expectancy similar to humans, BUT orcas in captivity rarely make it through their teens.

• Biologists monitor Lolita's family almost daily and are confident that she could be reunited with them. She still speaks her unique family dialect, but she has no one to speak to. :-(

• Lolita belongs in the wild where she can socialize with her family, find a mate and give birth to her own baby, experience the rhythms of the sea, feed herself, make her own decisions...and be free to LIVE without domination and exploitation.

• Lolita's reunion with her home and family is supported by Lolita's Legion, The Humane Society of the U.S., World Society for the Protection of Animals, The American Society for the Protection of Animals, Pacific Whale Foundation, Zoocheck Canada, Animal Rights Online, Animal Legal Defense Fund, In Defense of Animals, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Born Free Foundation, The Animal Welfare Institute, dozens of other national and international animal rights and animal welfare groups, a long list of Washington and nationwide elected officials, and thousands of friends of Lolita.

Please join us and help Free Lolita!!!
For the animals...
Orca Network, with Tim Gorski and Val Silidker of Rattle the Cage Productions.

A message from Susan Berta~~~
Mother's Day is a time for families,
to celebrate the special bond between
a mother and her offspring.

Orcas have these same bonds ­
calves stay with their mothers for life,
swimming in her slipstream, staying close
to the pod for comfort and company.

Join us this Mother's Day
to ask for Lolita's return to her
orca family in Puget Sound.
It is time she is reunited with her pod,
and given the chance to
become a mother herself.

Help us bring Lolita home
by sending a Mother's Day
Letter or Card to:

The Honorable Alex Penelas
Executive Mayor, Miami-Dade County
Stehpen P. Clark Center
111 NW 1st Street, Suite #2910
Miami, FL 33128

Secretary Ann Veneman
Rm 200-A
Whitten Bldg
U.S. Dept of Agriculture
14th & Independence Ave SW
Washington, DC 20250

Chief, Protected Resources Division National Marine Fisheries Service
525 NE Oregon Street, Suite 500
Portland, OR 97232

The Honorable Governor Jeb Bush
PL05 The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Talahassee, FL 32399-0001
Call: 850/488-4441
Fax: 850/487-0801

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!