Victoria, BC was a late addition (as were many other locations) to this international demonstration organized by Shut Down Palace in support of Lolita Tokitae’s retirement, We would like September 3, 2016  to be the last show ever for Lolita Tokitae, because she has been allowed to retire after 46 years of captivity and exploitation, not because she died alone, far from her family, captive and exploited in a substandard tank.  But this is still only a hope, although Orca Network and the Center for Whale Research have developed a feasible and complete plan to return Lolita Tokitae to her home waters with human care for as long as that is needed.

On September 3, supporters of the plan were again on the streets of Victoria BC, where Lolita’s other still swims offshore, handing out information and gathering signatures on a letter to Parques Reunidos, which owns palace Entertainment, which owns the Miami Seaquairum. (All of that is owned by Arle Capital.)

Mr. Fernado Eiroa was CEO of Palace Entertainment from 2007 until February 2016, when he replaced  Yann Calliere as CEO of Parques Reunidos. There is no public information on who has replaced him as CEO of Palace Entertainment.

” Fernando succeeds Yann Caillère (63) who, after two successful years of leading Parques Reunidos, decided to step down, given the longer term commitment required in the context of a targeted IPO of the company.”

Here’s hoping Parques’ IPO has the same trajectory as Sea World’s recent profit picture, as people realize the atrocity that orca and cetacean captivity is:

SeaWorld sees profits plunge 84% as customers desert controversial park

 At this time, this blog is the website for the Victoria Orca Festival Society.The letter is here, addressed to the CEO of Arle Capital (it has been sent previously with signatures gathered at 2016 FernFest directly to Arle Capital). The 47 letters from September 3  have been sent via Parques CEO Fernando Eiroa with the cover letter below. Please use the letters  as a template for your own.

September 3, 2016
Victoria Orca Festival Society
Victoria BC Canada

Mr. Fernando Eiroa
CEO, Parques Reunidos Group
Parques Reunidos Servicios Centrales S.A.
Casa de Campo S/N
28011 Madrid, Spain

Greetings, Mr. Eiroa:

Those of us who have asked over many years for the release of the orca Lolita Tokitae (Miami Seaquarium) to a protected sea pen in her home waters note that you are now responsible for Parques Reunidos as a whole, not only Palace Entertainment, your former position.

Enclosed are 47 letters signed by individuals in Victoria, British Columbia, a coastal city where Lolita’s mother still swims off our shores with her family in L pod, and the extended family of the Southern Resident orcas in J, K and L pods.  Theirs is a complex society, with transmission of culture and language and dialect over generations. The Southern Resident may range over 100 miles in a day.

The Miami Seaquarium could be at the cutting edge of true marine education, instead of on the post-Blackfish wrong side of history, by allowing Lolita to retire and at least contact her family again, if not rejoin them. We are prepared to support her with human assistance and provision of her preferred food for the rest of her life if needed.

Current released video and documents have shown the public that Lolita is not doing well. Please don’t let her die alone in a substandard tank on your watch.

On this last day of Seaquarium shows for this year, we ask that his be the last year of shows for Lolita Tokitae, and that you contact Howard Garrett at Orca Network , 2403 N Bluff Rd, Greenbank, WA 98253, United States in order to implement the Orca Network retirement, transport and sea pen plan.

Diane McNally
President, Victoria Orca Festival Society