USA: Feds Agree To Reconsider Plight Of Orca At Miami Seaquarium

Lawsuit Means Government Must Protect Deprived Orca Under Endangered Species Act or Supply a Legal Reason Why Not to Do So

October 12th, 2012
Press Release

Contact:
Lisa Franzetta, ALDF
David Perle, PETA

MIAMI — Following a lawsuit filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and PETA, the National Marine Fisheries Service has agreed to reconsider its exclusion of the orca Lolita from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing of the Southern Resident orcas—the family from which she was taken more than 40 years ago. While endangered listings are to include captive members of a species by default, Lolita—who is confined to the smallest orca tank in North America at the Miami Seaquarium—was unlawfully excluded without explanation, allowing the Seaquarium to hold her in conditions that harm and harass her and that would otherwise violate the ESA. Pursuant to the agreement, ALDF and PETA will submit a new petition for Lolita to be included in the listing with her family, and the agency must, within specified time periods, decide whether her listing is warranted based solely on the biological status of the Pacific Northwest’s Southern Resident orcas. The filing of the original lawsuit was handled by the law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.

"Under the Endangered Species Act, no one can harm or harass Southern Resident orcas—yet that is precisely what Lolita, a Southern Resident orca, is experiencing in the smallest orca tank on the continent," says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders...

Source: Feds Agree To Reconsider Plight Of Orca At Miami Seaquarium
Author: ALDF

Link: FREE KSHAMENK THE ORCA FROM THE SMALLEST TANK
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