Freeing Lolita from Miami Seaquarium is 'sacred obligation'

MIAMI (AP) — Supporters of releasing the Miami Seaquarium's killer whale, Lolita, have a message for the theme park: We aren't going anywhere.

They now count among their ranks Florida gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine and the Lummi Nation tribe of Washington state, whose traditional territory in the Salish Sea also served as Lolita's native waters.

Levine, members of the tribe and of Orca Network, a Washington-based nonprofit that advocates for Lolita's release, met at Levine's Wynwood campaign headquarters Tuesday morning to announce the next steps in their effort to move Lolita from the Seaquarium to a sea-pen in Washington's San Juan Islands.