In 2013, PETA and its partners petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (now also known as NOAA Fisheries) for Lolita (aka Tokitae), the lone orca at the Miami Seaquarium, to be included in the listing of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population of Washington state from which she was taken in 1970.
Two years later, Fisheries included her under the listing.
On July 20, 2015, PETA, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Howard Garrett, and Orca Network sued the Miami Seaquarium and its owner, Palace Entertainment, claiming the park was harassing Lolita, a violation of the “take” clause in the Endangered Species Act.
There were eight expert witnesses in the case – four for the plaintiffs and four for the defense.
There are striking parallels between the arguments made then by these witnesses and the arguments being made now about relocating Lolita to the Pacific Northwest.
That’s why from July 28 through August 21, 2023 we will be presenting the affidavits, expert reports, and depositions of these witnesses, one plaintiff witness and one defendant witness each Friday. Some of these documents, such as depositions, are incomplete. We are presenting them as they were presented to the court as evidence.
These documents were originally redacted and sealed. They were unsealed by court order on July 18, 2016.
To respect the privacy of the witnesses, we have, to the best of our knowledge, removed personal contact information, such as physical and email addresses and phone numbers. We have also removed names and license information of the court reporters for the depositions. All else remains as it was presented to the court.
Today, Ingrid Visser for the plaintiff, Michael Renner for the defense.
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