Lolita Update #62
May 15, 2003

Dear Friends of Lolita~

We're keeping the heat on the Seaquarium, where Lolita remains stranded in concrete, a slave to the entertainment industry. On Mother's Day, May 11, the demo for Lolita surpassed all expectations. You'll find Val's description of the demonstration below. Channel 7 in Miami devoted two minutes to telling Lolita's true story, and the response has been unbelievable. There are many new Friends of Lolita now, so we hope many more people will come and express themselves at the next demonstration for Lolita, on Sunday, May 18th!!

This message is from Val Sildiker and Tim Gorski in Miami:

We're going back! This Sunday we will be back outside the Miami SeaPRISON to let them know that we are NOT going away.

Why: To Rescue and Retire LOLITA!
Where: Miami Seaquarium
When: Sunday May 18th
Time: 11am-4pm (We'll be there...whatever time you can give would be great!)
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! You can park just before the seaquarium in the lot by the water.

One protest a year is NOT enough! Mother's Day was only the beginning. Please join us...for Lolita and all the other captive animals at the Miami Seaquarium.

Together we can raise the awareness of people everywhere and get Lolita out of there. It's time for her to go home.

For the animals...
Val Silidker*
Tim Gorski

AND...WPLG Channel 10 in Miami is conducting a survey to see how people feel about whether Lolita should go free. Please vote, it just takes a second. Go to http://www.click10.com/news/2196396/detail.html

From Val Sildiker:
May 11

Hello my friends,

First of all, I want to thank each one of you for coming out on Mother's Day to speak up for Lolita and the cruelty of captivity. It was a long, hot day...but it was worth it!
We had a fantastic turn out of about 40-50 people throughout the day. Three activists disrupted Lolita's 1:00 show, one with a megaphone taped to her arm!
AND...you were all on the news! Channel 10 and 7 covered the demonstration. I hope that everyone had a chance to see it, because the story was amazing. Channel 10 presented both sides as a controversial issue and stayed pretty much in the center. Ric O'Barry and I were interviewed as well as a trainer from the Miami Seaquarium.
But the best coverage was channel 7 @ 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00! Not only did they begin by comparing Lolita's situation to the Free Willy controversy (I believe they said that we have our own Free Willy developing right here in S. Florida), but they showed graphic clips of her capture from our documentary and basically told Lolita's life story! It was compassionate and disturbing and really gave people a glimpse of the true horror of capturing animals from the wild. (Although, just for the record, Lolita was captured in Puget Sound--off the coast of Washington State, not Massachusetts).
Also, Tim and I had a few moments of interview. When the MS trainer was interviewed, after the audience had a chance to see the brutal capture footage and learn the controversy surrounding Lolita, he basically said that this is America and everyone is entitled to their opinion and that he felt they have a great marine park with lots of good shows so come on out to the Miami seaquarium. Ugh! He didn't even address the issue. Instead, he seemed to use the news as a chance to plug the park. Unbelievable. At the end of the story, Channel 7 put the OrcaNetwork.org website on the screen and told people to go there for more information on how they can get involved to help Save Lolita! It was fantastic!
Thank you so much for your compassion. None of this could have happened without all of your help.
Please, if you haven't had a chance to see the documentary Lolita: Slave to Entertainment and would like to get a copy, go to: Official Website.
Last month, Tim and I were guests on Bob Linden's GO Vegan Radio show in LA and had an opportunity to talk about Lolita. And today, we had an opportunity to be guests on the Go Vegan Texas radio show in Houston and talk about the Mother's Day demonstration as well as the Lolita film. So the message IS getting out there.

And Mother's Day was just the beginning.

We'll keep you posted!

Val

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!