“In the course of many conversations over the years about the feasibility returning Tokitae – the L pod orca captured in 1970 and still maintained in Miami – to her native habitat, it has become clear that a body of belief is strongly embedded in the thinking of many marine mammal experts that discourage any suggestions of transporting Tokitae to her home waters.”
– Howard Garrett, Orca Network
Read, Learn & Share: Talking points for Tokitae by Howard Garrett – adobe.ly/3Upnkrd
September 24 1970 – Tokitae arrived at the Miami Seaquarium
Miami Seaquarium opened its doors back in 1955. It found fame in the 1960s when the T.V series Flipper; was filmed there. Today, when people hear about Miami Seaquarium, they learn about Lolita/Tokitae’s cruel capture and heartbreaking confinement.
August 8, 1970, Lolita/Tokitae was one of six juvenile orcas abducted from the waters off Washington state. Boats, planes and bombs were used in the hunt; five orcas died. Juveniles were separated and netted off to await transport into captivity at amusement parks. During those weeks, the adult orcas never left the abduction site, and the sound of their grief-filled calls rang through the cove.
On September 24, 1970, Tokitae arrived at the Miami Seaquarium and was given a new stage name: Lolita, to be a playmate for the young male orca named Hugo, captured in Vaughn Bay, near Puget Sound, Washington, in February 1968.
“Lolita had a very hard time. She just barely floated. The skin on her back cracked and bled from the sun and wind exposure. She wouldn’t eat the diet of frozen herring. At night, she cried.”
Hugo was kept in the present manatee tank about a hundred yards away from Tokitae as the park managers assumed they would fight. They constantly called out to each other with their siren-like calls across the park grounds. On March 4, 1980, after 12 years of performances and repeated self-inflicted damage to his head, Hugo died of a brain aneurysm.
After his death, all references to Hugo ended when a crane dumped his remains into the Miami-Dade landfill. Lolita has been alone for over 42 years, held in the smallest orca tank in North America, surviving in a hot climate and without shade, a direct contrast to her native Pacific Northwest habitat.
Download & Use: 52 years, posters for Tokitae – tinyurl.com/posters4tokitae
