MIAMI – Two women were arrested Thursday at Miami International Airport after they painted themselves like killer whales and sat on top of a baggage carousel to protest the captivity of an orca at the Miami Seaquarium.
Meggan Anderson, 31, of Los Angeles, and Mysti Lee, 21, of South Elgin, Illinois, were arrested on trespassing charges.
Miami-Dade police said Anderson and Lee were sitting on top of a baggage carousel, painted like killer whales.
According to their arrest affidavits, the women were asked to leave several times but refused.
Photographs provided by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals showed the women wearing nothing but panties covered in black-and-white body paint. They were holding signs that read, "Miami Seaquarium: Free Lolita!" and "Lolita suffers at Miami Seaquarium."
Lolita the killer whale has been housed at the Miami Seaquarium since 1970.
"Our protesters drew visitors' attention to the suffering that animals endure at the Miami Seaquarium, where a lonely orca swims endless circles in a tiny concrete tank," PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman said in a news release. "PETA is calling on visitors to Miami and the Seaquarium to join us in demanding Lolita's release to a coastal sanctuary."