The Final Hours: How did Lolita die after medical procedure at Miami Seaquarium?

The Seaquarium has not released information regarding the medical procedure immediately preceding Lolita's death, nor the results of the necropsy. Lolita's former veterinarian of more than 20 years, says medical examiners should be highly suspicious that the medical procedure and subsequent complications might have precipitated the whale's death. Lolita had been struggling for two days prior to her death. She had trouble eating and appeared languid.

IZZY KAPNICK: As Miami Seaquarium workers raised the water level in Lolita’s whale tank after an urgently scheduled August 18 medical procedure, panic set in among the marine park’s staff. The 7,000-pound orca was struggling to stabilize herself and swim on her own. As the water inched higher, she was floundering, and part of her jet-black tail appeared limp.

Having survived multiple hurricanes, nine U.S. presidencies, and five decades of repetitive performances under the pounding Florida sun, the Seaquarium’s retired star, already worn down from a chronic infection, was fading before her caretakers’ eyes.

“She was having trouble moving one fluke particularly. She was not as active as we would have liked. She was clearly uncomfortable, listing to one side,” a source, who was present for the procedure and has knowledge of Lolita’s condition and care, tells New Times.

Compounding the crisis, a bulkhead used to raise and lower water levels during medical procedures was leaking. “We began to lower the water again, and there was concern that with the leaking through the bulkhead, it would not lower as quickly as needed. But it did. We were able to get the water down,” recounts the source, who spoke on the condition that their name not be published out of fear of reprisal.

A whale-size stretcher was brought in to stabilize Lolita while veterinarians scrambled to control her vital signs and irregular breathing. But the orca never recovered, and around four o’clock that afternoon, Lolita was declared dead.

Miami Seaquarium released a statement saying that “despite receiving the best possible medical care,” the orca, thought to be 57 years old, died from “what is believed to be a renal condition.” The marine park’s statement did not mention the medical procedure immediately preceding her death.

By all accounts, Lolita had been struggling for two days prior to her death. She had trouble eating and appeared languid — symptoms that prompted her veterinarians to schedule the August 18 procedure, which involved drawing blood and administering medication and fluids.

The timing of her death has nonetheless raised questions about what prompted the fatal collapse. Magdalena Rodriguez, Lolita’s former veterinarian of more than 20 years, says medical examiners should be “highly suspicious” that the medical procedure and subsequent complications might have precipitated the whale’s death.

Rodriguez explains that orcas are what is known as “conscious breathers,” meaning they need to make a voluntary move to the surface to breathe through their blowhole, which is akin to a nostril. If a killer whale falls unconscious or becomes incapacitated for an extended period while submerged, it will drown.

“After a medical procedure, where you lower and then re-raise the water, you have to make sure that the whale is breathing well. If the animal was struggling, the water needed to go back down fast,” Rodriguez says.

Rodriguez was not present for the procedure. The Seaquarium’s previous owners fired her in 2021 after she alleged that the park was endangering its animals by reducing their diets, among other issues. Her complaints were documented in a 2021 inspection report filed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees captive animal exhibits.

“We know she was sick,” Rodriguez says of Lolita’s final day. “But it was a cascade of things going against her. She likely was losing consciousness, having trouble breathing.” The source who witnessed Lolita’s death says the whale had undergone several similar medical procedures without incident.

“We assumed she’d have the same positive response she’d had previously when treated this way,” the source says. “The days leading up to this did not indicate this level of illness. There were blood tests. There were all the things that we review and inform the treatment for the vets. There is nothing that was done that was ill-advised or in any way reckless and without thought and consideration.”

Two sources with knowledge of Lolita’s treatment that day say blood was coming from the area around her mouth following the medical procedure, which Rodriguez says warrants investigation for possible hemorrhage or adverse reaction to medication…

Several monthly veterinary reports in 2023 indicated that Lolita remained on a heavy dose of antibiotics to hold the chronic infection at bay. Some animal rights activists called for her immediate transfer to a better equipped park, contending that her tank conditions remained abysmal and were to blame for her failing health and chronic infection.

Phil Demers, an outspoken animal activist currently steeped in a legal dispute with Miami Seaquarium over his use of drones to secure aerial footage of Lolita, warned that the orca would die if left in the crumbling tank for much longer…

A necropsy was reportedly scheduled to be performed in August at the University of Georgia, but the results have not yet been publicly released… The Seaquarium has not announced a date for the release of the necropsy results. The park said in August that the whale’s remains would be cremated and shipped west in a process overseen by the Lummi indigenous tribe, which views the whale as a sacred creature.

In early October, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries released a statement saying that the Seaquarium had not given NOAA the necropsy results and had no legal obligation to do so. NOAA Fisheries, which enforces the Endangered Species Act under which Lolita was protected, said that in September, the Seaquarium provided the agency with Lolita’s purported cause-of-death, which the agency did not disclose in its statement.

According to Whale and Dolphin Conservation USA, more than 50 captive orcas are scattered around the world, more than half of which were born in captivity. SOURCE…

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