Tokitae, the Orca Held in Captivity for More Than Five Decades, Could Finally Return to home waters
After being taken from her family in 1970, the female whale has spent the past 52 years in a pool in the smallest orca enclosure in North America. Now, there’s a chance she could finally be returned to her natural home.
Credit: PETA
In a marine park located in Miami, Florida, a female orca lives alone in the smallest orca tank in North America. She has not seen another of her species in more than 40 years. Tokitae (also known by her stage name Lolita) was taken from the wild in 1970 during a ‘violent capture’ which led to the drowning of five other whales, including four babies. She was then sold to the Miami Seaquarium for $20,000 dollars to be used as a tourist attraction. For nearly five decades, Tokitae performed in shows, doing tricks like jumping, flipping, and lifting trainers in the air, until March of this year, when she was officially retired by the seaquarium.
Credit: Terrell C. Newby, Ph.D./PETA
For years, campaigners, activists, Indigenous groups, and philanthropists have fought to return Tokitae to her natural home - now there’s a chance that this could finally happen. After half a century, the leadership of the Dolphin Company, who own the seaquarium, has publicly stated that they are “100% committed” to returning the 56-year-old orca to her native waters.
"It's the right moment, where we sit down and join forces," CEO Eduardo Albor said during a public conference about Tokitae's future.
“We’re glad to hear that the Dolphin Company is still committed to moving Lolita after decades of being trapped in the smallest orca tank in the world, and suffering from a respiratory infection for which she remains medicated, and hope to see that happen as soon as possible for her sake,” Jared Goodman, vice president of PETA told the Miami New Times.
Tokitae has experienced multiple tragedies in her life. In 1980, after ten years of companionship, her orca tank mate Hugo died after repeatedly bashing his head against the seaquarium glass walls. Her health has also been deteriorating. She is currently suffering from a severe respiratory infection and is receiving antibiotics as well as antifungal and anti-inflammatory medications. But despite her ailing health and a life of captivity, experts say she’s doing surprisingly well.
“She’s a miracle every day,” said Howard Garrett, a whale researcher and activist who started working on plans for Tokitae’s release in 1995. “It’s against all odds that she is still alive. I think it’s about her mental health that keeps her physical health in good shape.”
Credit: Orca Network
What happens next?
Although it is rare for a whale to be successfully returned to the wild, Garret believes that it is still possible for Tokitae. According to a report, he says that she could make the 10-hour journey from Miami to somewhere in the San Juan Islands in a comfortable fleece-lined stretcher with cool water, adding that not a single whale has been harmed while being moved in 50 years.
The Whale Sanctuary has also drawn up an operational plan to bring Tokitae home from the Miami Seaquarium to her home in the Salish Sea, with additional guidance from Lummi cultural advisors who are also advocating for the whale’s rescue.
“We consider the southern resident killer whales to be our relatives that live under the waves,” says Raynell Morris, a Lummi member who is on the board of the nonprofit Friends of Lolita and a part of Sacred Lands Conservancy. “From the beginning of time we have loved and respected them.”
It is also possible that Tokitae could be retired to a 100-acre (40 hectares) sanctuary in Nova Scotia run by the Whale Sanctuary Project.
“We owe all these captive animals an opportunity to live in an environment as close to their natural environment as we can possibly provide,” says Charles Vinick, of the Whale Sanctuary Project, which helps free captive whales around the world.
Whales like Toki have earned their human owners millions of dollars and entertained countless people, Vinick reminds. “We owe them a retirement program, a pension … giving them back something like this is the least we can do.”
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