Seaquarium Critic Claims Star Whale
Lolita Is Dying

Monday, February 20, 2006
MIAMI, FLORIDA - Russ Rector has turned to the air -- and the Web -- to wage his anti-Seaquarium campaign.

The dolphin trainer turned anti-captivity activist claims the Miami Seaquarium's new website hints at a grim new strategy for the Miami marine park: preparing for the death of its star attraction, Lolita the Killer Whale.

Rector hired a plane to tow a "Lolita is Dying" banner over the Seaquarium when it reopened after a four-month closure after Hurricane Wilma. Now he says the park's refurbished website proves the aging orca's end is near.

The page's tagline used to read "Home of Lolita the Killer Whale and Flipper the Dolphin," but now says "South Florida's #1 Tourist Attraction." Finding a mention of Lolita took several mouse clicks last week, and killer whales weren't included in a poll asking visitors to pick their "favorite marine mammal."

"They know she's dying, and they are removing her from everything," Rector said.

Seaquarium executives dismissed the theory as the latest rant by Rector, who runs a parody site, miamiseaprison.com.

They say Lolita is healthy, and that the website soon will include prominent photos of the park's animals. They note Lolita will play a starring role in new taxi advertisements, light pole banners and a promotion with Publix grocery stores.

The Seaquarium rushed to get the new website up by the Feb. 11 reopening and "there are some changes that need to be made in regards to featuring all of our animals more, not just any one particular whale," marketing chief Eric Eimstad wrote in an e-mail.

Seaquarium executives estimate Lolita is about 40 years old. Female orcas usually die by 50 in the wild and by 20 in captivity, though "a few" have lived past 30, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

With new orcas extremely hard to buy, the executives acknowledge they may be left without a star killer whale some day. But Eimstad said there's no way of knowing when that day may come. " Lolita is not dying," Eimstad wrote. "She is aging, like we all are. That is a huge difference."

Source: The Miami Herald