SEATTLE (CN) - Animal-rights activists claim an orca is being held in an "inadequate tank" in the Miami Seaquarium. They sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for excluding captive killer whales from listing under the Endangered Species Act.
     The Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Individuals and three individuals challenge the NMFS decision "to exclude from the listing of the Southern Resident killer whale population all captive members of that population and their progeny."
     The federal complaint focuses on a whale named Lolita, who was captured more than 40 years ago, and has been held at the Miami Seaquarium. The activists claim Lolita is being "kept in an inadequate tank, without companions of her own species or adequate protection from the sun."

Penn Cove Orca Capture - 40th Anniversary Commemoration 

August 8, 2010, Whidbey Island We are getting ready for our commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the 1970 Penn Cove orca capture, in which 7 orcas were taken and delivered to marine parks, and another 4 or 5 killed during the process. Of all the 45 orcas taken from the So. Resident orca community and sent to marine parks, Lolita is the only survivor, in her small tank at the Miami Seaquarium. Visit our website to learn more about Lolita, and our events on Sunday, August 8th. We are honored to have Ric O'Barry of Earth Island Institute and the award winning movie "The Cove" join us on August 8th!