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Hollywood producer Raul Julia-Levy has attracted many A List stars and high powered producers, but the brightest star in his line up and no doubt the biggest, at 7,000 pounds, is Lolita, a 40-year-old killer whale.
He decided to get involved in the campaign to free Lolita when he learned that she was in need of star power. Those involved in the campaign include Elton John, Johnny Depp, 50 Cent, Plácido Domingo, Janet Jackson, Ringo Starr, Harrison Ford and R&B singer Truth Hurts
“We are people who have consciences,” he says. Everyone in this campaign from Hollywood has a mind of their own, and we believe that what we’re doing is the right thing simply because animals should live in their normal habitat.”
Lolita was taken from her family while still a juvenile, in 1970 when a capture team using speedboats and airplanes and lobbing explosives forced the entire Southern Resident orca community into a narrow cove, where they corralled all 110 or so orcas
“The conditions that she lives in are barbaric,” said Julia-Levy.
They chose the young ones to ship to Marine Parks around the world. Lolita was sent to Miami Seaquarium and against all odds she has survived these 37 years in a tiny tank that is illegal by the letter of the Animal Welfare Act
READ FULL INTERVIEW WITH JULIA-LEVY IN ‘GRIST’ MAGAZINE:
HERE
Their fight is not a new one. In fact, activists have been trying for years to convince the Seaquarium to retire Lolita, at times, offering up to $1 million for her release.
For more than four decades, activist Howard Garrett has worked tirelessly out of his home on Whidbey Island, Wash. to return Lolita to her native waters – the information and updates he has complied can be seen at the following links:
When Lolita Comes Swimming Home Again
August 6, 2009 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog)
All Updates since March, 1999
www.orcanetwork.org/captivity/updat10.html
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