The aquarium is partnered with the non-profit organization Friends of Lolita entered into an agreement to release Lolita and two dolphins she lives with. Philanthropist Jim Irsay was also at the press conference and says he will pay for the transportation of the animals, which will cost between 13 and 18 million euros. “I know Lolita wants to go to the ocean,” says Irsay.

The orca and dolphins may have to live in a netted sanctuary in the Pacific Ocean. Trainers may also have to be hired to get Lolita used to living in open water again. According to Irsay, she has to learn to hunt again anyway: “She doesn’t know how to catch fish anymore because she’s been in captivity too long.”

Tourist attraction

Lolita was taken from her troop in 1970 when she was only 4 years old and brought to the aquarium. There she was used for shows, with which she could wet the entire stand with the audience with her jumps. It became a real tourist attraction. She is now 57 years old. In the spring of last year she stopped with the shows, because her health was not going well. Visitors could no longer see her in her enclosure.

Animal rights organizations such as PETA protested for decades for Lolita’s release and even went to court for this. They thought the orca’s enclosure was too small. That was only a maximum of 6 meters deep, while Lolita herself is already that long. “It will give her the much-anticipated relief from five horrible decades in a cramped enclosure,” Jared Goodman, vice president of the organization, said in a statement. “It is also a clear sign to other parks that limiting the time of intelligent large sea creatures to a gloomy prison is over.”