Lolita Update #67
October 11, 2003

Dear Friends of Lolita~

The Seaquarium has made some cosmetic fixes to its antiquated buildings: Sat, Oct. 11, 2003 Seaquarium adding one emergency exit - (Webmaster Note: Dead Link)
Miami Seaquarium's operators, cited for 36 safety violations by Miami-Dade County fire inspectors, said Friday that they would add an emergency exit at the stadium housing Lolita the Killer Whale to avoid having to reduce seating capacity.
This may not be the end of the story however, and we'll let you know as soon as more news breaks.
We're also working on reuniting Luna (L98) a four-year-old orca calf from Lolita's family who was unfortunately left behind and lost in a remote cove in British Columbia over two years ago. We'll have much more to tell about Luna soon, or go to www.reuniteluna.org, or www.orcanetwork.org/news/lunaforum.html for the latest events about Luna's hopefully immanent homecoming.
For now though, on the other side of the world, we've just heard about a new orca capture in Russia. This is the first time since 1997 that an orca has been captured alive for the captivity industry and the first ever orca capture in Russian waters. This capture may set a precedent for further captures in Russian waters, leading to a revival of international trade in these animals by the captivity industry.

This unhappy news is just in from OrcaLab:

The capture of a young female orca in Russia's far eastern waters and her subsequent shipment by air to a facility on the Black Sea coast have now been confirmed. The capture took place on September 26th and the shipment on October 5th. The 430cm long orca, perhaps just 6 years old, reached her desolate destination at the Utrish Marine station on October 6th. The facts of the capture and transport were confirmed in a letter to us from Dr. Lev Mukhametov of Moscow's Utrish Dolphinarium Ltd. on October 8th . This "dolphinarium" operates under the auspices of the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society is also closely following these alarming events. Additional details about the capture can be seen at: http://www.wdcs.org/dan/publishing.nsf/allweb/FE9F5650FAFB273280256DBB002AFFEE.

A sample letter to Russian authorities can be found here

Thank you,

Howard Garrett
Orca Network
Greenbank WA
(360) 678-3451
www.orcanetwork.org
E-Mail

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!