A decades-long mission to free Lolita, a captive orca held in America's smallest whale tank, unites Indigenous leaders, | dG1fTzgtTk9lWjY0RjA
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00:00This is the exact capture location.
00:07Babies were being pushed away from their mothers.
00:12Blassoed, netted.
00:15You talk about pain, you should hear 30 or 40 whales screaming.
00:25Their whole goal was to generate revenue.
00:28They gave her a show name. They called her Lolita.
00:34She's hurting and she's not getting the care she needs.
00:38She's all alone.
00:39They would make the decision just not to feed her anymore.
00:42The first time I was in the water with her, you can't see past her face.
00:45She's huge.
00:47How can this whale be in this small tank? This is ridiculous.
00:50We gotta get down there.
00:53We'll bring you home.
00:55She's more than just a captive whale. She is our family.
00:58There's a Native American tribe now claiming ancestral rights to this animal and they wanted this animal back in her native waters where she belonged.
01:06That's a hell of a story. No one's ever told this story.
01:09She's already been there 52 years.
01:16Our great grandparents, when they got taken off to boarding school, the savage was taken out of them.
01:24She went off to boarding school and she's still there.
01:27It's not hard to capture whales.
01:30What I think we've learned over time is how hard it is to put one back.
01:35She's a corporate asset. We don't own her.
01:38They never granted me permission on poor grounds.
01:41She's there.
01:42You can't hide a whale.
01:43We have caused as human beings so much destruction, but there is hope.
01:47How was she doing today?
01:53Not great.