Jailed at four years old, Lolita spent 45 years at the Miami Seaquarium in solitary confinement MIAMI, Florida––The orca whale known to the world for most of her life as Lolita, 57, died on August 18, 2023 at the Miami Seaquarium, 53 years after her capture at Penn Cove, Washington. Initially dubbed Tokitae upon capture, […]
A “win-win” for Lolita, & even more for those promoting her homecoming
Lolita the orca whale may return to Puget Sound MIAMI, Florida––Lolita, the 57-year-old orca whale who has become a white elephant after 53 years in the 67-year-old Miami Seaquarium, may be returning home to Puget Sound, Washington, before the end of 2023. That might afford Lolita, also called Tokitae at capture, a comfortable retirement in […]
Sam Lipman, 32, & Ken Balcomb, 82, devoted their lives to whales
Balcomb spent more than 50 years in the cause, Lipman just 15, but both left a mark FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington; CRAWLEY, West Sussex, U.K.––Self-described “orcaholics” Samantha “Sam” Lipman, 32, and Ken Balcomb, 82, half a world and 50 years apart, died on November 29, 2022 and December 15, 2022, […]
Hidden Beach: why grey whales feast while orcas starve
What the whales are telling us HIDDEN BEACH, Washington––A single well-timed photo on a recent April 2018 morning could have captured in one frame almost the whole story of marine mammals in the Saratoga Passage, on Puget Sound, and indeed worldwide, amid intensified competition for food, accentuated by the effects of global warming. […]
War of the Whales
by Joshua Horwitz Simon & Schuster (1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020), 2014. 448 pages, hardcover. $28.00. Kindle $12.74. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Ken Balcomb, the former U.S. Navy pilot who in 1976 founded the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, was back in the news on October 21, 2014, […]