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Lolita Sidelined Due to Toothache? Seriously?
By Tia Lurie, West Palm Beach Animal Advocacy Examiner
March 4th, 2011 9:30 pm ET
In the wild Killer Whales leap for joy, to communicate, to express themselves as a family unit… Not for hand outs of dead fish or crushed ice. Tonight, however, Lolita won't leap. She won't have anyone to communicate with aside from her reflection on algae covered viewing glass. She won't have a family to express her emotions to. Lolita will bob listlessly in pain in the smallest and most obsolete whale tank on the planet.
This morning (3/04/2011) the social media networks were alive with the cyber sounds of marine mammals activists scrambling for information concerning the beloved 46 year old Lolita. A tip had been received through SaveLolita.com that the whale had not performed for the public for over a week and calls to the Seaquarium were revealing sketchy, if any, answers. Answers such as "I don't know" and "Call back Monday" and "Her shows have been canceled for the week through the weekend, I don't know when it'll be back.". Many wondered if this was a publicity stunt to try and tempt activists and the public into the park to see the whale, others feared the worst.
The call was made to several media networks in hopes that perhaps the news could find the answers to so many unanswered questions. Around 3:00pm EST Miami Seaquarium finally opened up and released a statement first to CBC Miami and then NBC6 Miami stating that Lolita was recuperating from a tooth infection but was eating well and being treated with antibiotics.
To the average member of the public this would seem like a minor offense and reason to send sympathy, and perhaps empathy, to the suffering whale. But to experts this sent up a red flag stating that Lolita is in immediate life threatening danger. It's common for captive Orcas to sustain injury to their teeth. In a recent paper written Dr. Jeffrey Ventre, a former SeaWorld trainer, it's stated that the vast majority of captive Orcas have used the horizontal bars of the gates that separate them during training sessions to bite down on and break their teeth quite literally in half.
The result is the need for SeaWorld's brand of cetacean root canal. A Pulpotomy is exactly what it sounds like, the pulp and nerve of the tooth is drilled out leaving a hollow cone of dead bone where the animal's tooth once stood. Dr. Ventre outlined that this procedure is often a cause of great pain and stress for the animal being worked on as there is no form of whale Novacaine available for use. The end result is a life time of daily flushing of debris from the hollowed out teeth in order to stave off infection which often spreads throughout the body of the animal and ultimately leads to their death.
But while this is a common occurrence and a common practice in the art of keeping captive marine mammals, especially killer whales, alive, records show that Lolita's teeth are in near perfect condition leading activists to speculate that all isn't as it seems.
"The Miami Seaquarium has a long history of not telling the whole story." Says Samantha Lloyd of Triton Marine Conservation. "A Bottlenosed Dolphin named Hollywood died on September 15th of last year, but the park kept telling the public and the media that she'd been retired to Dolphin Harbor. Activists couldn't get inside to confirm this without spending $149 for a ticket which is a lot more then the $38.00 ticket to go in and check on Lolita and the rest of the park's animals. And it wasn't until October 3rd and the team at The Orca Project requested records from NOAA that Miami SeaQuarium actually admitted that the dolphin had passed. They'd hidden it and lied about it for nearly just shy of a month." She continued on in the story of Hollywood's passing. Hollywood had been captured in 1975 and spent the next 35 years entertaining people and generating revenue for the park. However, no mention or thank you of her service or memorial has ever been dedicated to the dolphin.
But what about Lolita`s infection? Is the 7800lbs super star still alive or has she met the same fate as Hollywood? "If Lolita is still alive then I can only hope that they do what's necessary and have her moved from her tank to a rehab facility and later to a natural water seapen under the guidelines drawn up by the Orca Network once she's stabilized. To treat an infection the patient needs to be in the most sterile environment under the best of circumstances. Treating a Killer Whale for an infection is an entirely different ball game. They're a large predator, they're not going to show that they're sick until the last second and usually by that time it's too late as has been seen in recent cases such as Sumar and Kalina at SeaWorld just last year. Miami Seaquarium's facilities are falling apart and completely inadequate. Even on the best days the water in Lolita's tank is murky and cloudy. Look at any photograph or video that hasn't been retouched for the sake of publicity and you'll be able to see that fact for yourself." Ms. Lloyd comments.
Her concerns aren't farfetched or to be chalked up to paranoia. Since record keeping was first required in 1972, an astonishing 63 Bottlenose Dolphins have passed at Miami Seaquarium according to NOAA's Marine Mammal Inventory Report (MMIR) on Miami Seaquarium. The park, however, has been open since 1955 and the number of deaths prior to that are completely unknown to everyone outside of the park administration's tight knit inner circle. However, according to this database, of which a copy dating through to March 24, 2010 was obtained and made public by the Sun Sentinel, greater then 80% of those fatalities have been as a direct result of a form of pneumonia, septicemia or toxemia; two forms of widespread body infection.
They include but are not limited to;
BOSTON
M - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 1/1/1962
Origin: unknown
Deceased: 2/6/1976
Cause of Death: Chronic pneumonia
CATHI'S CALF
M - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 8/6/1992
Origin: Captive born
Deceased: 9/16/1992
Cause of Death: Salmonella
CHA-CHA
F - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 1/1/1952
Origin: Wild Capture
Deceased: 5/25/1976
Cause of Death: Toxic Hepatitis
DAWN
F - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 8/31/1975
Origin: Captive born
Deceased: 8/31/1991
Cause of Death: Bronchitis, Bronchiolitis, Septicemia
DEMON
F - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 1/1/1970
Origin: Wild Capture
Deceased: 5/2/1976
Cause of Death: Meningitis
DUSKY
F - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 1/1/1975
Origin: Wild Capture
Deceased: 4/16/1987
Cause of Death: Terminal Septicemia
FLIPPY
M - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 1/1/1960
Origin: Wild Capture
Deceased: 12/30/1979
Cause of Death: Uremic Toxemia
JOLEY
F - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 12/5/1991
Origin: Captive Born
Deceased: 2/11/2001
Cause of Death: Concussive Brainstem Impact
LILMAN
M - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 1/1/1976
Origin: Wild Capture
Deceased: 12/28/1994
Cause of Death: Massive Intestinal Volvulus, Endotoxemia
MAYA (SHE)
F - Bottlenose Dolphin
Obtained: 1/1/1968
Origin: Wild Capture
Deceased: 5/25/1976
Cause of Death: Septicemia, Staphylycoccus Aureus
These ten are a handful randomly picked off the first page of three full pages of Bottlenose Dolphin deaths at the Miami Seaquarium. And what about Hugo? The park's bull Orca served them for over a decade before his tragic death. Like Hollywood, or any of the other deceased, no memorial or marker stands for them.
HUGO
M - Killer Whale
Obtained: blank
Origin: Wild Capture
Deceased: 3/4/1980
Cause of Death: Aneurysm Cerebral Artery
According to the inventory between 1972 and early 2010 there have been 147 marine mammal deaths at the park. This information has given animal lovers, activists, and Lolita advocates cause for many sleepless nights in the past, but perhaps tonight is the night that none will sleep until information surfaces as just how the beloved Orca is really faring. All they're wishing for is a little bit of honesty and reliable information from an industry that seems hell bent on relying on smoke and mirrors to hide their darkest secrets on a day that ironically shares itself with the 31st aniversary of Hugo's death.
Arthur Hertz, owner of the park, has refused to comment leaving many to wonder if all is crumbling in his land of fantasy where dolphins walk on water and a killer whale flies through the air.
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