Page 16 - Orca Network News Today

With financial backing from Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, they have agreed to support Lolita long term, whether she's reintroduced or not.

While advocates hope to bring Lolita to a whale sanctuary in the Pacific Northwest, they know she might never again swim freely with her endangered family, including the nearly century-old whale believed to be her mother.

SEATTLE (AP) — An ambitious plan announced last week to return Lolita, a killer whale held captive for more than a half-century, to her home waters in Washington’s Puget Sound

Advocates say there are big differences between the cases and that their experience with Keiko will inform how they plan for Lolita's return.

A return to home waters

Lolita, also known as Tokitae, was about 4 years old when she was captured in Puget Sound in summer 1970, during a time of deadly orca roundups. She spent decades

Estimated at over 90 years old, the killer whale believed to be her mother continues to swim free with other members of their pod.

More than 50 years after the orca known as Lolita was captured for public display, plans are in place to return her from the Miami Seaquarium to her home waters in the Pacific Northwest.

American billionaire shocked many by announcing plans to help pay for Lolita, also known as Tokitae or Sk’aliCh’elh-tenau, to come home.

Plans are in place to return her from the Miami Seaquarium to her home waters in the Pacific Northwest to join her mother who is believed to still swim freely there