For the first time since Miami-Dade County told its tenant — Miami Seaquarium operator The Dolphin Company — that it needs to vacate the Virginia Key site by April 21 amid mounting animal welfare concerns, Local 10 News is getting a look inside.

Miami-Dade County is set to issue the Dolphin Company a new Notice of Default after USDA inspectors in November found that the Miami Seaquarium “still lacks a sufficient number of adequately trained employees.”

Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces sent a letter to the Miami Seaquarium on Wednesday in the wake of a Local 10 News report documenting the troubling findings outlined in the USDA’s most recent inspection report.

The Miami Seaquarium released results of a necropsy, nearly two months after the death of killer whale Lolita

The remains of Lolita will be cremated and soon be delivered back to her home in the Pacific Northwest, sources told Local 10 News on Thursday.

South Florida is still mourning the Miami Seaquarium’s orca Lolita, who died last week, and now activists are hoping her death spurs the release of the Seaquarium’s last remaining dolphin that shared a tank with Lolita and SeaWorld’s Corky.

Officials at the Miami Seaquarium provided the latest health update on their orca Lolita Tuesday as they prepare to eventually move her to her home waters in the Pacific.

Efforts to move Tokitae, the orca known as “Lolita” and “Toki,” out of the Miami Seaquarium to a seaside sanctuary in the Pacific Northwest continue, but that process is mired in legal red tape that could take months to iron out.

Tokitae is as majestic and powerful as ever. Jessica Comolli, the director of the Miami Seaquarium’s animal health department, said Tokitae is doing great.

An plan announced last week to return Lolita, a killer whale held captive for more than a half-century, to her home waters in Washington’s Puget Sound thrilled those who have long advocated for her to be freed from her tank at the Miami Seaquarium.

Three women who worked with famed orca Lolita at the Miami Seaquarium panned Thursday’s announcement that the attraction’s owners plan to return the captive whale to her “home waters” in the Pacific Northwest.

An executive with the Miami Seaquarium is expected to be joined by county officials and philanthropists Thursday morning to announce a plan to return beloved Orca Lolita to her “home waters.”

The General Manager of Miami Seaquarium who watches over Lolita, a 56-year-old orca had encouraging news on Wednesday about her health on Wednesday.

The environmentalist and philanthropist who watches over Tokitae, also known as the Miami Seaquarium’s Lolita, had encouraging news Thursday.

Concern is growing over the health of Miami Seaquarium's Lolita the orca.

The much-awaited independent assessment of Lolita's health says the beloved 56-year-old orca is doing much better.

Miami-Dade County announced that with the Miami Seaquarium under new ownership, third party veterinarians will be allowed onto the property to examine the health of the famed Orca.

Lolita, also known as Tokitae, will no longer be performing shows for profit. The theater and tank where she lives in captivity will be closed to the public. This is giving animal advocates hope that the 20-foot long female orca that has lived at the Miami Seaquarium since 1970 cold one day know freedom and make it back home.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture cleared the way for the Miami Seaquarium to transfer its lease to The Dolphin Company, Miami-Dade County’s mayor announced on Thursday night.

Lolita, the ailing orca at the Miami Seaquarium, could be on the move soon, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava tells Local 10 News.

Businessman and environmentalist Pritam Singh is committing $1 million toward the care of the Miami Seaquarium’s beloved orca Lolita, sources tell Local 10 News.

USDA inspectors were back at the Miami Seaquarium Tuesday following last June's scathing 17-page report citing numerous serious animal welfare violations.

There are conflicting reports about the health of Lolita, the 56-year-old orca that lives at the Miami Seaquarium.

The Seaquarium confirmed to Local 10 News that the famed whale is receiving around-the-clock care.

Miami-Dade County commissioners voted Tuesday to assign the job to The Dolphin Company, a Cancun-based operator of other aquatic parks in Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe.

The Miami Seaquarium will change ownership later this year.

VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. – A protest is underway at Miami Seaquarium in the latest call to free Lolita, the 20-foot-long, 7,000-pound orca who has lived at the Miami tourist attraction for 50 years. Activists say the tank in which the whale lives is not fit for her size. “She needs us to speak for her,” said Patty Leon, a protester with the group the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest said that under their inherent rights, the whale belongs to them. In October 2018, a federal appeals court rejected a petition to reopen a lawsuit over the Seaquarium’s treatment of the killer whale.

We have a right to call her home,” said Squil-Le-He-Le Raynell Morris of the Lummi Nation. Lummi Nation tribe members traveled from the Pacific coast to Miami to demand that the Miami Seaquarium free their sister Tokitae. (Local 10 News)The Lummi Nation has vowed to bring her home as their sacred obligation and they believe after 50 years, it’s time for her to retire. Lummi Nation members and their supporters continue their efforts to save Lolita from confinement at the Miami Seaquarium. Lummi Nation members and supporters continue to visit the Miami Seaquarium to demand they free Tokitae.

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals held a protest Tuesday morning outside the Miami Seaquarium to demand the release of Lolita. The Miami Seaquarium's last orca was captured 47 years ago in Puget Sound during a "violent whale hunt," PETA officials said in a news release. She was taken from her family, taken from her home, and that's not right. More than 65,000 school children visit Miami Seaquarium each year to learn about Lolita and the other residents of the sea. "Lolita will continue to be an ambassador for her species from her home at Miami Seaquarium."