Taxi Toppers Urge Tourists to Skip Florida’s Marine Parks
PETA Ads Come During the 38th Year of Lolita the Orca’s Loneliness at Miami Seaquarium
For Immediate Release:
March 5, 2018
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Just in time for the spring break travel season, PETA has placed ads on 20 Miami-area taxis that show an orca trapped in a glass bowl next to the words “Don’t Support Dolphinariums or Any Marine Parks. Orcas Suffer in Captivity.”
PETA is calling on Miami locals and visitors to stay away from businesses such as the Miami Seaquarium, where the orca Lolita has been trapped in the smallest orca tank in North America since her capture from the wild 47 years ago. The ads coincide with the 38th anniversary of the death of her last orca companion, Hugo, who died after ramming his head into the tank’s concrete wall in an apparent act of suicide on March 4, 1980.
“For decades, Lolita has had no orca companionship, no protection from the hot sun, and no chance to feel the ocean currents,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA hopes everyone who sees these taxi toppers will remember her misery and keep the Miami Seaquarium and SeaWorld off their itineraries.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—has joined prominent Miamians and concerned people from around the world, including television icon Bob Barker, in calling for Lolita to be moved to a seaside sanctuary in her home waters. There, she could interact with her family pod, including the orca believed to be her mother, who is still thriving in her 80s.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
