Lolita

First Light Productions

With release of the new documentary Blackfish it seems like a good time to revisit a piece posted here last fall depicting the inhuman practice of imprisoning orcas for exhibition.

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Life as Lolita knew it ended 40 years ago.

In the waters off Washington State in the summer of 1970, hunters using speedboats and explosives herded more than 60 orcas from Puget Sound’s J, K and L pods into a three-acre net pen in Penn Cove off Whidbey Island. They lassoed adolescents ranging in age from 2 to 7 and separated them from their mothers. Local residents reported the air was thick with the sound of screaming whales thrashing in the tangled nets and fluke slaps which could be heard across the inlet. One mother orca drowned desperately trying to reach her infant through the twisted nets. Her body was later discovered by reporters.

Four youngsters also died in the…

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