Lolita the orca dies in captivity before return to the PNW
Tokitae, also known as Lolita or Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, the last surviving southern resident killer whale in captivity, died in Florida on Friday afternoon, the Miami Seaquarium said.
Tokitae was taken from her family in Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove in 1970. She was believed to be around 57 years old. Ocean Sun, or L25, is one of the orca’s closest relatives and believed to be Tokitae’s mother. She is still alive.
Over the last two days, Toki “started exhibiting serious signs of discomfort,” the Seaquarium wrote on social media. The aquarium said along with the Friends of Toki medical team, it began immediate, aggressive treatment. “Despite receiving the best possible medical care, she passed away Friday afternoon from what is believed to be a renal condition.”
“I am just totally heartbroken for so many reasons. It was so close, everyone was rallying around her to get home,” said orca researcher Deborah Giles. “I just wish she could have made it to her home waters. For even one day.”
Preparations were underway for her return, including getting her used to a sling to move her from her tank. Her health had improved, and she was energetic.
“I think even the people with her day to day will be shocked by this,” Giles said.
Giles spoke through tears from a boat in the San Juan Islands where she was doing research work near L25. The publicity around Toki’s possible return had been a boost of attention for the endangered pods, which struggle for survival against multiple threats, including inadequate food, pollution, and boat disturbance and noise that makes it harder for them to hunt.
The southern resident orcas haven’t recovered from the capture era, dwindling to just 73, one of the smallest populations since the census began. In 2005, the southern residents were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, and a recovery plan was finished in 2008.
“It’s on us,” said Jay Julius, former chair of the Lummi Nation and president of nonprofit Se’Si’Le. “It’s on all of us for buying into the bureaucracy and managing them to extinction.”
“It forces us as humans to look at ourselves and ask ourselves: What the hell have we become?” Julius said. “We capture, we kidnapped and drive to extinction to make profits.”
Howard Garrett of Orca Network has worked 30 years to try and bring Toki home and was devastated by the news. “This is totally out of left field, I had no idea,” he said Friday. “I’m in shock and don’t know how to handle this. Every report I have heard for the last several months has been she is in better health, better spirits and more eager to build relationships. All signs pointed that she is ready to come back.”
The apparent cause was a gastric problem and sudden failure, Garrett said, though that is not yet confirmed by vets attending her.
Garrett said he hoped her body would be shipped home for ceremonial burial at sea. “I sincerely hope they bring her remains back.”
The sudden shattering of the dream, held for so long, to bring her home was impossible to process. “She has been the essence of my life, to bring her home and make her happy. Now it will not happen.”