Heartbreaking footage shows dolphins living in tiny pools METRES from ocean home

02 February 2023 , 10:14

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Heartbreaking footage shows dolphins living in tiny pools METRES from ocean home

Magnificent marine animals are being forced to live in shocking conditions at a US aquarium.

Heartbreaking footage has emerged exposing the tiny pools where dolphins, orca and manatees are held in captivity at Miami Seaquarium in Florida, one of the oldest oceanariums in the USA.

The large mammals can be seen cooped up in small spaces and swimming around in circles while their relatives swim freely in the ocean, just metres away.

Orca Lolita, formerly known as Tokitae, was famously captured in August 1970 and has been in captivity at Miami Seaquarium since September 1970.

The videos show her floating aimlessly alone in her small tank, where the water is green and exposed to the sun all day.

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It also shows two Pacific white-sided dolphins and several manatees floating around aimlessly at the 38-acre oceanarium in Key Biscayne.

Visitors pay to see the dolphins and orca at the centre, which backs directly onto the Atlantic Ocean (Phil Demers / SWNS)

Lolita, 56, has spent almost her entire life in captivity after she was captured five decades in the Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington State.

Animal rights activists believe she is the oldest orca in captivity and that she should live her final years back home in a seaside sanctuary.

The majestic orca has been through the same routine, twice a day for 50 long and miserable years, trapped in a tank just 80ft long, like a goldfish in a bowl.

The upsetting clip shows magnificent ocean mammals swimming in tiny pools at the US aquarium in Florida (Phil Demers / SWNS)

Half a million people a year, tens of thousands of Brits among them, watch the Miami Seaquarium show, which resumed in November 2020 after its Covid-19 shutdown.

Another orca at the Miami Seaquarium was said to have become so unhappy he "committed suicide" by slamming his head against the wall.

The tragic event took place in March 1980, and since then Lolita has lived at the aquarium utterly alone.

Miami Seaquarium has been running since 1955 (Phil Demers / SWNS)

Videos show the animals floating aimlessly in small tanks (Phil Demers / SWNS)

Hugo was torn from his family in the wild and forced to perform tricks for paying customers during his time at the centre.

He was kept there for more than 12 years, after being captured aged just three off the shores of Vaughan Bay, Washington, according to animal welfare group The Dolphin Project.

Laura Sharman