Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Can Miami Beach Mayor Ride A Killer Whale Named Lolita To Governor’s Mansion?

Miami Beach mayor Philip Levine isn’t shy about his gubernatorial ambitions. Nor has he made a secret of his passion for animal rights, specifically those of the Orca whale Lolita from the city’s Seaquarium.

But is Levine using his call to free Lolita to leverage a quick political boost?

Politico reported that Levine intends to present a resolution to the city council demanding the immediate release of Lolita. He explained the timing of the decision as related to recent hurricane Irma and to the danger facing the whale when South Florida endures a catastrophic storm.

Owners of the water park that is home to the whale are accusing Levine of playing politics at Lolita’s expense and say he is “not an expert” on what’s best for the giant mammal.

“People are going to say what they say, but this is the right thing to do,” Levine responded.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.