7 OctOber 12-18, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | After the Dolphin Co. took over the park in 2022, the company pledged to work with Friends of Toki to upgrade Lolita’s tank and switch the filtration system from chlorine to ozone to improve the water quality. Notwith- standing the Seaquarium’s optimistic progno- sis this year, several monthly veterinary reports in 2023 indicated that Lolita re- mained on a heavy dose of antibiotics to hold the chronic infection at bay. Some animal-rights activists called for her immediate transfer to a better-equipped park, contending that her tank conditions re- mained abysmal and were to blame for her failing health and chronic infection. Phil De- mers, an outspoken animal activist currently steeped in a legal dispute with Miami Seaquarium over his use of drones to secure aerial footage of Lolita, warned that the orca would die if left in the crumbling tank for much longer. “We can’t continue to wait for a whale uto- pia 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,” Demers told New Times in March 2023. Lolita’s Final Hours Lolita stopped eating shortly after Seaquari- um’s August 15 statement describing her as “very stable,” according to two sources who had knowledge of her treatment. In response, Reidarson and other veteri- narians working with Seaquarium and Friends of Toki scheduled the medical proce- dure for the morning of August 18 in the med- ical pool behind the whale’s main living quarters. The bulkheads were deployed, allowing the water level where Lolita was isolated to drop enough for veterinarians to administer fluids and medication. (The Seaquarium has not released the name of the medication; Re- idarson did not respond to an October 3 email requesting comment.) When Lolita fell seriously ill in October 2022, the Seaquarium carried out a similar procedure in the same pool without signifi- cant complications, according to veterinary reports. Still, Rodriguez points out that Lolita was well aware of what was in store for her when the water began to go down and that it was a stressful experience for the orca. She explains that the tank’s water chillers had to be working properly to keep the whale cool during this type of procedure and that her condition had to be closely monitored to ensure that she remained alert enough to breathe properly — especially if she had been treated with medications that could cause drowsiness. When the bulkhead started leaking early in the day on August 18, fear spread among some staff that they would be swallowed up by wa- ter rushing back into the medical pool, though others in the pool didn’t deem it an imminent danger, according to the source who re- counted the events of the day to New Times. Later, after the medical procedure wrapped up and the water was raised, atten- dants noticed something was clearly wrong with Lolita. “The water was being raised, and as it got to a level that she was floating, buoyant, she began to move around. It’d always been a lit- tle slow when she was recovering from a medical procedure, but she was slower than we had seen the previous time we did this,” the source says. “The most ex- perienced of the attendants moved in to help her. She wasn’t responsive for several minutes, and we became more concerned.” Although the leaking bulkhead prompted worries among Seaquarium staff that the wa- ter would not be lowered in time to try to re- vive the whale, the source maintains that the leak did not create a long delay. Rodriguez says that alert veterinarians and trainers can deal with a malfunctioning bulkhead, but if a leak is big enough, she con- tends, it could be a “major problem” if a whale is not properly recovering and water needs to be lowered on an emergency basis. The vet adds that the investigation into Lolita’s death ought to include a pharmacology panel to determine the level of medications in her body at the time of her death, including the potential presence of sedatives such as tramadol, which was sometimes administered to Lolita when she was ill. Rodriguez says that severe peptic ulcers and other potential digestive conditions need to be considered, given that veterinary reports indicated Lolita was suffering gastrointestinal problems in the weeks before she died. Unanswered Questions According to an NBC 6 report, the Seaquar- ium said 15 clinicians and pathologists were assigned to the necropsy, “all with great ex- pertise in their fields.” The Seaquarium has not announced a date for the release of the necropsy results. The park said in August that the whale’s remains would be cremated and shipped west in a pro- cess overseen by the Lummi indigenous tribe, which views the whale as a sacred creature. According to Whale and Dolphin Conser- vation USA, more than 50 orcas remain in captivity around the world, more than half of which were born in captivity. In 2016, Sea- World stopped its orca breeding program as public outcry mounted against whale captiv- ity and exhibitions. Kiska, the last captive orca in Canada, died at MarineLand in March, roughly three weeks before Miami Seaquarium announced its deal with Irsay to transport Lolita. Looking back on Lolita’s final days, Rodriguez wonders whether the rosy portrayals of the whale’s health were little more than lip service to feed into the narrative that the orca was finally on the verge of freedom. “Either they misled the world to think she was healthy, or they were really clueless about it and thought she was really healthy when she was sick and immunocompro- mised,” Rodriguez asserts. “She died an aw- ful, agonal death and did not deserve that.” The source who witnessed Lolita’s last hours agrees that the ordeal was devastating, with so much hope on the line and the project to release her in the works. But the whale’s ability to persevere in her small tank for all those years was and remains a testament to her will to survive, the source emphasizes. Lolita outlived nearly every other orca captured during an era when hunters would wrangle juveniles and sell them to the highest-bidding marine park. “Lolita found a way to live in a place that everyone now seems to agree she should never have been, was way too small. Some- thing about her and her will to live was palpa- ble when you were with her and just made you fall in love with this animal,” the source says. “For so many people around the world, this whale became iconic. It’s like you’re treating your mother, grandmother, your sis- ter. We were remarkably and appropriately optimistic about her future. But it did take a serious turn.” [email protected] “SHE LIKELY WAS LOSING CONSCIOUSNESS, HAVING TROUBLE BREATHING.” Shanna Simpson worked as a trainer with Lolita for six years at the Miami Seaquarium. Shanna Simpson photo
