Tokitae (Lolita) the Orca to Be Retired from Shows

By Mark J. Palmer

The Miami Seaquarium, under new management, will no longer conduct daily shows featuring Tokitae. Tokitae (also known as Lolita) is one of the oldest orcas in captivity and will no longer do dangerous and unnecessarily stressful tricks for the public.

The change comes about as the Seaquarium was sold to a Mexican amusement park company, MS Leisure, and the US Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) cracked down on the park due to many deteriorating and unhealthy conditions identified in a critical inspection last June.

The inspection found that the park trainers and staff often ignored the advice of their own veterinarian, who was subsequently fired. She expressed special concern for Tokitae’s leaps out of the water, as well as sudden head dives despite Tokitae’s hurt jaw. The inspection, triggered in part by the deaths of several marine mammals, found poor water quality and peeling paint in the tanks.

Tokitae was abducted from her family in Washington State waters at four years of age. She was one of seven Southern Resident pod members captured by Ted Griffin and Don Goldberry, working on behalf of SeaWorld, to be sold to aquariums and marine mammal parks. Several other orcas died during the brutal operation, which was caught on film. All of the other orcas sold to aquariums are dead now.

Tokitae, the lone survivor, is believed to be 56, very old for an orca in an aquarium, but some female orcas in the wild are believed to live into their 90s.

Her remaining family still swims in the Salish Sea of Washington State, but the population has been hurt by pollution, underwater noise, and diminished salmon runs. The captures of young orcas for captivity during the 1960s into 1970 also grievously depleted the population. Subsequently, the population has been declared endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Had Tokitae and the other young orcas been left in the wild instead of stolen by SeaWorld, Miami Seaquarium, and other aquariums, their offspring would have improved the survival odds for their pod and the Pacific Northwest orca population. Instead, a whole generation was nearly lost to the captivity industry.

Now, the new owners have agreed that Tokitae and her companion, a Pacific white-sided dolphin, will no longer have to perform in shows, and their tank (the smallest orca tank in North America) will be off limits to visitors. The tank is currently being repaired to address the problems revealed by the APHIS inspection.

According to the Miami Herald, US Department of Agriculture Deputy Administrator Elizabeth Goldentyer wrote the new owners, enforcing the decision to take Tokitae off exhibit: “If, in the future, you intend to exhibit either of these animals (including posting any image of these animals on social media with the expectation of economic benefit), or resume using this pool for exhibition purposes, you will need to apply for a new license.”

The question remains of what will become of Tokitae? Will she live out the rest of her life in the small concrete tank in the Miami Seaquarium?

Should she be moved to another, larger tank? That raises the question of her age – transporting an orca or other cetacean from one place to another is a traumatic experience. Five beluga whales, supposedly healthy, were transferred last year from Marineland in Niagara Falls, Canada, to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, and two of the belugas have subsequently died and a third is reported to be ill. Given Tokitae’s age, could she be moved at all, and how would she respond to being placed in a new tank very different from her old one?

Other parks have larger tanks and potentially companionable orcas (although the stress of captivity also means captive orcas can be very aggressive towards each other). It is not clear that the other parks would want Tokitae, given her age.

Most animal welfare and environmental organizations have pushed for Tokitae to be returned to her home waters in the Pacific Northwest, where her family is still living and may well be able to recognize her. A seaside sanctuary has been proposed to house her as she becomes used to the new conditions.

But there are formidable obstacles to placing Tokitae in a seaside sanctuary – none are currently operating for orcas, and the cost of building such a facility is very expensive. And there are the stresses and hazards associated with moving her, given her advanced years.

Tokitae’s circumstances are a heartbreaking commentary on captivity and the misery created by the exploitation of these beautiful, sentient beings by the marine mammal entertainment industry. One can only imagine what Tokitae’s rich life might have been had she remained wild and free with her pod. She and her family would have been regularly communicating with their own language and dialect, swimming great distances, hunting salmon and feasting together, and enjoying a socially engaged family life. There can be no justification for the theft of this natural birthright.

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The International Marine Mammal Project is dedicated to ensuring that orcas no longer be confined to small concrete tanks to entertain us. These animals belong in the wild, where they can live out their lives being orcas instead of circus performers. Please donate to our work to end captivity for all whales and dolphins. Thank you!