Four Pacific white-sided dolphins now in the tank with Lolita

From Orca Network Lolita Update #107

Four Pacific white-sided dolphins now in the tank with Lolita, and two more could be on the way to join the crowd. The tank is only 35 feet by 80 feet by 20 feet deep, with a medical pool behind the platform that is only 12 feet deep.

Here’s the first person report (the source shall remain anonymous to allow re-entry):

I went to the SQ today to hand out flyers and check on Lolita.  They are now keeping her with 4 Pacific white-sided dolphins, the 2 that are normally there along with 2 that they are “borrowing” for breeding purposes.  I couldn’t get the attendant to tell me where the  other 2 are from, but Lolita now has NO access to the medical pool because she doesn’t get along with the 2 new dolphins.  I also learned that another white-sided dolphin that is usually kept with her is removed because she is pregnant, but once she gives birth and is cleared she and the baby will also be held with Lolita, along with the other babies if they are conceived.   That means their is a potential of having 6 dolphins in her tank with her within the next year.  She seemed very somber today though she came up to me again.  I swear she knows what we are trying to do for her.  The attendant also told me that Hugo (the young male orca captured in Puget Sound in 1968 who died in 1980) died of a brain tumor (cancer) and didn’t commit suicide, I found that amusing because according the the MMIR (Marine Mammal Inventory Report), the cause of death is clearly stated as a “aneurysm cerebral artery.” He also let us know that no hurricane preparation is taken by the SQ, so all the animals stay exactly where they are now in the event of a hurricane.  I know we knew that but hearing it form an employee is sad.

White-sided dolphins tend to travel in groups of a hundred or more, and range for hundreds of miles in their natural habitats. Crowding four, or six, dolphins together in that tiny tank with Lolita is unethical and irresponsible for the dolphins and for Lolita. In the 1970’s Hugo bashed his head against the wall of the tank several times. He broke the viewing window twice, once nearly slicing off the tip of his rostrum, which was stitched back in place.

PLEASE CONTACT APHIS AND THE USDA telling them about this blatant display of cruelty.  Lolita’s tank is illegally sized when she is in it by herself and now she must share it with 4 dolphins without having access to her medical pool.