Finally, Lolita may go free. ‘Historic’ deal clears way to move killer whale from Miami tank

After more than 50 years in captivity, freedom may be in sight for Lolita, the Miami Seaquarium’s performing orca.

Executives with the theme park, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, volunteers for the Friends of Lolita group and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay — who has agreed to bankroll a move that will cost millions — unveiled plans to return the 57-year-old, 5,000-pound killer whale to its home waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Levine Cava called the agreement “historic” and a great day for Miami. “So many have hoped and prayed for this result for many, many years.”

There are many hurdles ahead, starting with the complicated logistics of transporting such a massive creature across the country. It also wasn’t immediately clear if the plan would be endorsed by federal agencies that oversee marine mammals and animal attractions. But the announcement on Thursday represented a milestone turning point in the long battle over the future of a whale that had long been the Seaquarium’s biggest, and most controversial, attraction.

Read More: How do you move a 22-foot whale cross county? Big questions about freeing Lolita

Pritam Singh, co-founder of the nonprofit Friends of Lolita, said his group has already begun working with officials in Miami-Dade and Florida, in Washington state, where they hope to transfer her, and the U.S. government, which must approve the move. They have a meeting in D.C. next month to keep the talks going.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” he said. “But I think we’re up to the task.”

Animal rights groups, who made the whale the focus of a decades-long campaign, have long complained about her living conditions and the inadequate size of her tank at the aging tourist attraction. Lolita, also known by the Native American name of Tokitae, would emerge as a poster animal for changing societal views on performing animals and wildlife captivity.

Levine Cava credited the international group of activists who have pushed for the whale’s freedom but also defended the county’s oversight of Lolita during the long controversy over her fate. She said that recent independent reports have confirmed the whale is being well cared for by the county’s “finest marine veterinarian experts.”

“As long as she has been in our care, she has been cared for,” she said.

Marine scientists have also raised concerns that Lolita, who has had multiple health scares in the decades in her tank, won’t be well enough to survive the diseases and pollution in the ocean, but Singh said he’s confident that she will survive. Keiko, the whale the movie “Free Willy” was based on, lived for one year after his full release in the wilds of Iceland before dying of pneumonia.

Read More: What did Lolita look like through the years at the Miami Seaquarium? See for yourself

“We believe it is entirely feasible and likely that we can move her to an ocean-based habitat in the Pacific Northwest,” he said.

A promise to Lolita

Eduardo Albor, CEO of the Dolphin Company, which owns the Seaquarium, said it was “a very special day.”

He told media gathered for the announcement about his first visit to the Seaquarium before his company purchased the theme park. He and his daughter caught the Lolita show, and he described a cheering, happy crowd of families delighting in the orca’s performance, including himself.

Then, he said, his daughter told him she couldn’t watch the show anymore and needed to leave.

“I cannot be here because this place is too small for Lolita,” she told him. “Dad, I have to go or I will cry.”

Albor said he vowed that if he took over the park, he would do what he could to free Lolita.

“I promised,” he said.

A pledge to move Lolita the killer whale from Miami Seaquarium, with Jim Irsay’s help

Irsay, a wealthy owner of a National Football League team and a philanthropist, has pledged to help bankroll the big move, which the group estimates could take 18 to 24 months and cost $15 to $20 million.

“We don’t have a locked-in timeline,” he said. “Obviously the sooner, the better, but we’re not rushing like a fire drill.”

The plan involves moving Lolita and the two dolphins that keep her company to the Pacific Northwest in a specially designed travel tank that fits on a flatbed truck, then in the belly of a giant plane like a Boeing 747 or a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, then another truck, then finally a barge with a crane to lower her into her new home. That home, the group says, will first be a netted sea pen, where trainers will re-acclimate the whale to the wild.

“We have to teach her how to catch fish again. She doesn’t know how to do that anymore, she’s been in captivity too long,” Irsay said.

He said he’s been fascinated by whales since he was a child and called Lolita “the Cal Ripken Jr. of whales,” a reference to the famous shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles nicknamed “the Iron Man.” Lolita is one of the oldest killer whales in captivity.

“I’m excited about being part of Lolita’s journey,” he said. ”I know that Lolita wants to go home. She has the fire within her.”

This is a breaking news story that will update.