6 August 31 - september 6, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | which McBain said would provide her with healthier and more natural water. “The Dolphin Company assumed ownership of Miami Seaquarium in March of 2022. Since then, more than $500,000 has been invested, including new chillers, filter media, and an ozone generator. All the while, we continued our unwavering commitment to her well-being,” the company said in a statement to New Times. Her tank was consistently tinged green with algae growth in the absence of the chlorination that had kept the water looking clear and blue during her performance days. Dolphin Co. maintained that the algae was not harming the whale, believed to be in her late 50s, an ad- vanced age for an orca. Among multiple planned changes, McBain noted that staff planned to bring down the pool temperature to around 59 degrees to keep the whale comfortable. Wallace tells New Times that ozone can be an effective disinfectant, but that levels must be tightly monitored to ensure it has the de- sired effect. “Toki had strong levels of chlorine in her pool forever. Once you take that disinfectant away, she may then be prone to pathogens in the water. We have had problems at other parks where the ozone was not entirely effec- tive,” Wallace says. By the summer of 2023, the ozonation sys- tem had replaced chlorine as the disinfectant in the pool. Freedom in Sight Hope sprung in March 2023 that Lolita might be released from the Miami Seaquarium. The whale’s health reports had shown signs of progress, and the Seaquarium announced that it had joined forces with nonprofit Friends of Toki and NFL team owner Jim Irsay to relo- cate the aging whale to a yet-to-be-built sanc- tuary in the Salish Sea off the coast of Washington state. Albor said he was commit- ted to returning the whale to her home waters. Friends of Toki said that although permitting and logistics would be challenging, it planned to resettle Lolita by mid-2025. The project was estimated to cost roughly $15 million. Outspoken activist and former animal trainer Phil Demers denounced the plan, saying that Lolita was sicker than the public was being led to be- lieve. He warned that Lolita’s conditions were reminiscent of the tank where Kiska, Canada’s last captive orca, was confined. While a plan to relocate her was in the works, Kiska died at Marineland in Ontario of a fatal bacterial infection in March 2023 — a reminder of how fragile older, captive orcas’ health can be. The Seaquarium’s revelation of the project to relocate Lolita to a marine sanctuary came less than three weeks later, fueling speculation that the Miami park’s an- nouncement was hastened by Kiska’s death. “I’m seeing Toki in the same condition Kiska was in, and I’m seeing the exact same messages being repeated,” Demers, a long- time Marineland employee, told New Times in March 2023. “We can’t continue to wait for a whale utopia to be built and wait for optimal conditions for her to enter this utopia...The longer we wait for perfection, the likelier it becomes that she is going to die.” The activist, known as the “Wal- rus Whisperer” for the extended battle he waged to free a walrus named Smooshi from Marineland, is cur- rently steeped in a legal tiff with Miami Seaquarium over its claims that he trespassed by flying drones over the park to secure footage of Lolita in her tank. Demers — whose social media features him leading protests, sipping cocktails, and mooning a camera on the beach — claims many marine theme parks, including Miami Seaquarium, have put off pricey upgrades to their aging animal enclosures to avoid punch- ing a hole in profits. As Demers notes, several parks were built more than a half-century ago. (Miami Seaquarium opened on Virginia Key in 1955, and the whale stadium was later built in 1970, according to Sandra Pollard, who authored a book on orca captivity.) “Life changes and evolves, right? You gotta adapt with it,” Demers says. “Miami Seaquar- ium didn’t. They’re archaic, and that’s the problem. You can’t catch up to 2023 if you’re built in 1970.” Demers says federal oversight of Lolita was lacking after the exhibition license for the whale was pulled in 2022, and she fell out of the public eye. “I think you have to look at some of the government agencies that allowed this tor- ture to ensue without any oversight, without any protection whatsoever, even though they have mandates to do so,” Demers says. Last Days Before Lolita died, the final monthly veteri- nary report hinted that something was awry but offered no indication she was fatally ill. It noted that she was suffering from an abdomi- nal illness similar to what she had experi- enced the previous month. McBain and veterinarian Stephanie Norman noted the Biscayne Bay source water feeding her tank was scorching hot this summer but that staff had added the two large portable chiller units to the mix, keeping the water at a cool temperature in the 50s. “The new ozone unit has allowed the team to discontinue chlorine as a disinfectant,” the July report reads. “Round-the-clock mainte- nance of life support and water quality is be- ing well managed by staff.” “She is still fighting infection, but we are seeing continued incremental improvements to each of the parameters we are monitoring,” the report states. In recent weeks, Lolita was undergoing training in preparation for her planned trans- port to the Pacific Northwest, though the en- visioned sanctuary was far from being built and the project was still in its infancy. On August 15, three days before the whale died, the Seaquarium announced it would provide a new round of updates on her health and trip preparation. That same day, Albor of Dolphin Co. said the whale was “in the best health condition on record for years.” After Lolita passed away, the marine park stated that her health had declined precipi- tously over two days while veterinarians scrambled to treat her. The facility said she suffered fatal complications from suspected renal issues without specifying whether they were related to her chronic infection. A timetable for Lolita’s necropsy results has not been released. The marine park said in a statement that it will soon announce the details of a “ceremony to bid farewell to beau- tiful Lolita.” The last orca to die at the Seaquarium was Lolita’s former tank mate Hugo, who per- ished around age 14 in 1980 of a brain aneu- rysm, according to his necropsy report. He had been known to aggressively smash his head against the sides of the 35-by-80-foot pool, at one point cracking the glass and slic- ing off a piece of his nose. [email protected] Miami Seaquarium announced on March 30, 2023, that it had joined forces with NFL team owner Jim Irsay to relocate Lolita to an ocean sanctuary. Below: Miami-Dade County inspectors posted an unsafe- building notice at Miami Seaquarium’s Whale Bowl stadium in 2021. Photo by Andy Blackledge/Flickr Miami-Dade County photo HER TANK WAS CONSISTENTLY TINGED GREEN WITH ALGAE GROWTH IN THE ABSENCE OF CHLORINATION. Free at Last from p4
