Video: Ringwood Girl Swims For Miami Orca

RINGWOOD, N.J. — Willow Phelps wouldn’t get very far if she tried swimming in her Ringwood bathtub.

Willow will be swimming in support of a Miami Seaquarium orca on her birthday.

Photo Credit: Daily Voice

Willow, 8, of Ringwood, stands in front of the lake she'll swim across for Lolita on Aug. 16, her birthday.
Photo Credit: *Submit*

Willow Phelps of Ringwood swims in Cupsaw Lake.
Photo Credit: *Erika Mathews*

08/10/2016 5:30 a.m.

What troubles the 8-year-old is that there’s a whale, Lolita, at the Miami Seaquarium who could forever be stuck in a pool. To the orca, that’s basically a bathtub.

For her 9th birthday Aug. 16, Willow will be swimming for Lolita.

“She made the connection of how these animals are held captive and don’t get to live a natural life,” said Willow’s mother, Erika Mathews.

Willow, an athlete on Erskine Lakes Aquatic Club’s swim team, will make the 1-mile swim across the lake with her mother to raise funds for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Someone in a boat will also be in the lake just in case the pair become fatigued.

“For a 9-year-old, it’s a long distance,” Mathews said. “She’s done this before and I’m confident she can do it again.”

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