A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling against animal rights groups that want a captive killer whale removed from Miami Seaquarium.
The case concerns an orca named Lolita that has lived at Seaquarium since 1970. Last year, a Miami federal judge dismissed the groups' lawsuit alleging that the tank holding Lolita violates USDA standards under the Animal Welfare Act.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said last week that although the judges "are sensitive to the plight of Lolita and other animals exhibited across the country," they found that the USDA's administrative process to renew Seaquarium's license to display Lolita "balances the competing demands of due process and animal welfare."
The groups had argued that the USDA policy amounted to a "rubber-stamping" of license renewals and undermined the law.
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