We are deeply saddened at the death of orca whale Tokitae. Calls for her release were denied for decades and it’s shameful that she never got a chance to go home.
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30 years ago, the movie "Free Willy" was a huge hit. The plight of its orca star, Keiko, touched the public along with the moving story. Read how the International Marine Mammal Project took that spark of concern and returned Keiko to his home waters. SeaWorld and other captive dolphin parks would never be the same!
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The last captive orca in Canada, Kiska, has died, after being kept alone for twelve years at the notorious MarineLand park in Niagara Falls. If Tokitae (Lolita) goes home to a seaside sanctuary, the only North American captive orcas will be those in SeaWorld's three parks.
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2023 is the 30th anniversary of the release of "Free Willy", the film that popularized the issues raised by keeping orcas in captivity in small concrete tanks. Dave Phillips, who spearheaded the rehabilitation and release of Keiko, the orca star of the movie, speaks to the BBC about the successful (and so far only) release of a captive orca.
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The Miami Seaquarium owners have stated they are all in favor of efforts to move Tokitae, the female orca who has performed for 50 years, into retirement, possibly to a seaside sanctuary in her home waters. A major barrier to bringing her home has been removed.
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A young artist put together a nice graphic for the International Marine Mammal Project about the harm captivity does to orcas.
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As we enter a new year, the International Marine Mammal Project is still hard at work laying out our plans and hopes to help save whales, dolphins, and their ocean homes.
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Our Orca Hour virtual presentation features Earth Island's David Phillips and Sumona Manjumdar in a lively discussion of how Keiko, the orca star of "Free Willy", was successfully rescued, rehabilitated and released into his home waters, leading to our landmark lawsuit against the false statements of SeaWorld.
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Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut has asked the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for permission to import five beluga whales from Canada’s Marineland park at Niagara Falls. The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute and many other organizations and members of the public strongly oppose the import. While Mystic claims the purpose of the import is to conduct scientific research on the beluga whales, the real purpose behind the import is to provide more breeding stock for captive whales to produce yet more captive cetaceans for the US captivity industry.
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In a letter delivered to congressional leaders on Monday, July 20th, the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute, Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), and 17 other animal protection and conservation groups urged lawmakers to require that any aquarium or marine theme park benefiting from COVID-19 emergency funds take steps to phase out the captivity of whales and dolphins.
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