Mayor Leads Miami Business and Entertainment Leaders in Calling for Lolita’s Freedom

Jorge Pérez, Daisy Fuentes and Louis Aguirre Among Voices Joining PETA in Demanding Orca’s Release From the Miami Seaquarium

For Immediate Release:
August 5, 2015

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Lolita, the lone orca at Miami Seaquarium, has some friends in high places. Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and nearly a dozen other Miami business and entertainment leaders have joined PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—in calling for Lolita to be released to a coastal sanctuary.

Quoting Mahatma Ghandi, Mayor Levine says, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” He goes on to say, “Miami should be known as the beautiful, modern city that it is—not as the home of the smallest orca tank in North America. This endangered animal must be released as soon as possible from the appalling conditions at the Seaquarium and moved to a sanctuary in her home waters.”

Louis Aguirre, television anchor of The Insider, adds, “she was violently kidnapped from her mother while she was still only a baby and has spent 45 years in captivity, living in one of the smallest whale enclosures in the world, without contact with another orca for 35 of those years. It’s time to have some compassion and do what’s right. She deserves to be free for the rest of her life, as nature intended. I pray that sanity and reason prevail here.” And CEO and founder of Related Group Jorge Pérez agrees, saying, “Miami is one of the most progressive cities in the world. Holding Orcas captive for show is no longer acceptable. It is completely necessary that we, as an international city, support the release of Lolita from her 45 years of captivity at the Miami Seaquarium”.

Other Miami business leaders and entertainment stars calling for Lolita’s freedom include television host Daisy Fuentes, DJ Irie; Ingrid Hoffman, celebrity chef and author; Alan Potamkin, co-chair of Potamkin Automotive Group, and wife, Brigitt Rok; Courtland Lantaff, publisher of Ocean Drive Magazine; and philanthropists Jeff and Yolanda Berkowitz. Together, these prominent Miamians have a combined net worth in excess of $100 billion.

Note: PETA supports animal rights and opposes all forms of animal exploitation and educates the public on those issues. PETA does not directly or indirectly participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party.

For more information, please visit PETA’s blog or PETA.org.