Remembering Tokitae: The Last Southern Resident Orca in Captivity
In memory of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut
A shorter version of this story was published in the Times Colonist - based in my hometown, Victoria, BC - on Aug. 22, 2023. I’m publishing it here as well because Zuckerbergia blocks sharing links to Canadian news sites. I’ve revised and updated this based on additional information from historian Jason Colby and Howard Garrett. I’ve also added back some details that were cut for length. This version also includes hyperlinks to sources and resources and - at the bottom of this post - a free link to my documentary about Toki’s family, The Hundred-Year-Old Whale. Please subscribe and stay tuned to the Skaana podcast and Skaana’s Substack for more stories about Toki and upcoming interviews with Howard Garrett from Orca Network, Historian Jason Colby & Gloria Pancrazi one of the filmmakers behind the essential documentary Co-Extinction.
As the sun set on August 17th all three communities of the southern resident orcas gathered in the waters off the San Juan Islands. Their 95-year-old matriarch, Ocean Sun, swam alone nearby. These superpod gatherings are incredibly rare and tend to coincide with births and deaths.
Over 5000 kilometers away, the orca some believe to be Ocean Sun’s daughter was dying in her tank at the Miami Seaquarium. The next day Tokitae, also known as Toki, Lolita and Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut died at 1pm Pacific time, succumbing to suspected renal failure and 53 years in captivity - many of them in solitary confinement.
Despite her age, her death was a shock. A medical update issued by the Seaquarium three days earlier declared Toki’s health was “very stable and as good as she can be.” She appeared to be clear to finally return home to a sea pen in the Salish Sea where she would be cared for, at least in part, by the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) people who consider her family and call her Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut.
The last southern resident orca in captivity, Toki was one of roughly fifty orcas taken from the small community between 1965 and 1976 for display in aquariums around the world. Approximately 20 Bigg’s orcas - a different community and ecotype - were also taken.
On August 8, 1970, Toki was captured along with about 90 other killer whales (as they were known at the time) at Penn Cove off Whidbey Island in Washington State by Seattle’s Namu Inc. The orca hunters did not know they had netted a superpod - almost the entire southern resident population - or that this was a unique population.
The cries of the captive orcas were so haunting that they helped turn the American public and politicians against allowing the capture of orcas. Several orcas died in the capture. At least five orcas died in the capture. Four young orcas were sliced open and weighed down with rocks and anchors to hide the bodies. Toki was one of seven young orcas from that hunt who were sent to aquariums. The other six died by 1987.
When Tokitae arrived at the Miami Seaquarium she was renamed Lolita. The name was taken from novel about a middle-aged man’s obsession with a 12-year-old girl, because Lolita – believed to be four years old - was brought in to breed with five year-old male, Hugo. She suffered several miscarriages before Hugo (who was also a southern resident) died of a brain aneurysm in 1980 after repeatedly slamming his head against the wall of their tank. Toki hadn’t seen any other orcas since then.
The 20-foot-long, 7,000 pound whale lived in an 80-foot-long, 35-foot-wide tank - considered the world’s smallest. She had no shade from the Florida sun, no protection from visitors and the tank featured a staging platform that jutted out into it to make it difficult to circle. When The Dolphin Company bought the Seaquarium in 2021 the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to the sale on the condition that Tokitae stop performing.
In March 2023, the Dolphin Company signed an agreement with a group called Friends of Toki to return the orca to the Salish Sea. The move would be bankrolled in large part by Indianapolis Colts owner, Jim Irsay, who committed $20 million to the project.
The southern resident community consists of three pods - J, K and L. Each has their own language and Toki’s calls identified her as a member of L-Pod. It’s possible she’s the daughter of Ocean Sun but no DNA tests have been done to confirm this - though they could be. Howard Garrett, who runs Orca Network, has DNA from Ocean Sun but says Tokitae’s owners have never agreed to provide a sample to test it against.
Garrett’s late brother Ken Balcomb - founder of the Center for Whale Research - launched the campaign to bring Tokitae home in 1995. Garrett has worked for her return since then. “She wasn’t just a circus animal. She was a member of the Southern residents,” Garrett told the Skaana podcast just after her death.
He’s hoping her legacy will raise awareness of the challenges facing her family, who are critically endangered because of the impact of losing almost a generation to captivity and the scarcity of their primary food source, Chinook salmon. “Toki’s legacy is building, building by the day.”
Tokitae is survived by the 75 remaining southern residents and the Lummi Nation. Responding to news of her death, Lummi Chair Tony Hillaire declared: “She is one of us. She is a Lummi leader… Our hearts are with all those impacted by this news; our hearts are with her family.”
Sacred Sea - an Indigenous-led organization working to bring Toki home - issued a brief statement. “Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (Tokitae / Lolita) has walked on. This was sudden and unexpected. Our grief is heavy. Right now, we have no words.” Their vice-president, Lummi Elder Raynell Morris, who’s on the board of Friends of Toki, went to Miami to request that her body be returned home for a proper burial.
In lieu of flowers breach the Snake River dams and join campaigns that support the survival of Chinook to keep Toki’s family alive.
Photo Michelline Halliday
For more information:
Legal Rights for the Salish Sea