I am writing to you on behalf of the Tokitae Foundation.
It is a foundation set up
to release Lolita (a captive whale at the Miami Seaquarium). The
foundation
wishes to move her from her current atrocious conditions and move her to
a sea
pen in the waters where she was first captured in the State of
Washington and
then be rehabilitated for a hopeful reunion with her family (much like
Keiko, the
"Free Willy" star). Lolita's family is from a pod of the most
intensively studied
orca populations in the United States. If her rehabilitation is not
possible then
she will spend the rest of her days in retirement, fully cared for in
this pen
instead of performing twice daily at the Seaquarium in her small tank.
After
performing for 29 years, we believe Lolita is due some rest. We are
simply
trying to gain as much attention to Lolita as possible.
Lolita and others from her pod were captured in 1970
with a mother and two
babies slaughtered in the attempt. Lolita was only 6 years old and most
likely
very aware of her environment and the security of her family. She was
then
transported to Miami and since then she has been performing twice daily
as
their main attraction. She originally shared her small tank with another
orca
from her pod called Hugo, who was captured a few years before. At age 15
Hugo died of a brain hemorrhage after continually beating his head
against the
tank. (The Seaquarium states that Hugo died from a viral infection).
Lolita is held in a tank that is the smallest and oldest
in the United States and it
does not pass the U.S. Department of Agriculture's regulations. We
recently
came across the architectural plans for Lolita's tank and now have proof
that
either the Miami Seaquarium lied to the USDA (i.e. the USDA did not take
the
appropriate legal procedures in measuring her tank) or the USDA is aware
that
her tank does not meet their regulations but chose to ignore it.
Lolita's tank is
split into two by a stage area in the center. The USDA gained their
width
measurement by measuring over the stage area and including it with the
total
width measurement (as if Lolita can swim through it). This makes their
width
measurement very questionable. Lolita is 22 feet in length. USDA
regulations
require a minimum depth of 11 feet (half her body length). The back half
area of
her tank known as the medical area is only 10 feet deep (not the 12 feet
the
USDA and Seaquarium has stated since the 1960's) and the other half of
her tank is 18 feet, sloping to 12 feet at the sides (stated as 20
feet). We consistently contact the USDA but to no avail. Also, we were recently able to
gain the
water temperature of her tank which we found to be 77� Fahrenheit and
not the
55� Fahrenheit the Seaquarium states.
For more information on this situation, see the
following website: http://www.rockisland.com/~tokitae
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