Page 33 - Orca Network News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Finding fewer Chinook salmon to eat, the endangered southern resident orcas are visiting the San Juan Islands, their traditional summer home, less often.

Lolita was about 4 years old when she was captured in Puget Sound in summer of 1970

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, where a nearly century-old, endangered killer whale believed to be her mother still swims.

Researchers documented a 75% drop in reported sightings of the southern resident orcas from 2004 to 2020 around the San Juan Islands. That corresponded with a 50% decline in available Chinook, the orcas’ favorite food, from British Columbia’s Fraser River.

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 — where a nearly century-old, endangered whale believed to be her mother still swims