The Florida Aquarium has reached an agreement with an animal welfare organization to release Lolita, a 2,268 kg killer whale that has been held in captivity for more than half a century, officials said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Oceanarium Miami says it has reached a “binding agreement” with the nonprofit Friends of Lolita to release the recently retired whale into an ocean habitat in the Pacific Northwest for two years.

Lolita the orca was caught in 1970 and used in the show until 2022

Lolita, a 57-year-old killer whale caught in 1970 in a bay near Seattle, is also known as Toki, a name short for Tokitae, the Indian name for whale, the Miami Herald reported. The plan to return Lolita to her natural habitat requires federal approval, the newspaper reported.

The process of releasing Lolita into “its waters” took years, starting with the transfer of ownership of the aquarium to The Dolphin Co., Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference. The company later partnered with a non-profit organization to provide the whale with medical care.

Seaquarium’s former owner, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc SEAS.N, ended the orca show in 2016. Once a Seaquarium attraction, Lolita was pulled from the show in March 2022 following a change in management.

“Finding a better future for Lolita is one of the reasons that led us to acquire Miami Seaquarium,” Dolphin Co CEO Eduardo Albor said in a statement.

The possibility of Lolita’s release gained momentum after the 2013 documentary Blackfish about orc captivity.

Animal rights activists fought unsuccessfully for years in court to free Lolita after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration added orcas to the endangered species list in 2015.

Killer whales are highly social mammals that have no natural predators and can live up to 80 years.