That's when we learned about the methods of resistance by the marine park industry, which included misrepresenting the whales to the public. In other words, information has been withheld from the public that would encourage the idea that they can be released after long term captivity. So in addition to the brutal consumption of whales and dolphins for the park industry, a coordinated effort to misinform the public was and still is being perpetrated by the industry to convince people that release is impossible. At that point we knew we had to help Lolita, and at the same time begin to re-educate the public that whales and dolphins are far stronger, physically, mentally and especially socially, than the parks and even the general education via universities, have been telling people. Garrett's experience with whales is hardly typical.
More people have better access to a captive orca than a wild one.
The campaign to close down such exhibits is hard to sell when there are so many people who want to be close to a whale, and so many people who are willing to sell them the experience. A movement to end a display industry takes time and persistence to build. I'm trying, along with a growing global cultural movement, to take that new cultural development into new realms, into the world of non-human lives. In this movement, Lolita is both a living, breathing being who needs help to be returned to a normal life in her home waters with her family, and at the same time she is a symbol of our choice as a society, either to exploit, abuse and destroy her life for our momentary thrills, or to extend our understanding to her plight, empathize with her suffering and do what we can to relieve the pain and correct the transgression against her. By acting out of empathy, we reinforce our ability to empathize, both within ourselves and as a global society.