Lolita the Beloved Orca Dies After Fifty Three Years at Miami Seaquarium – A Memorial Tribute

In Loving Memory of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (Lolita)

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this memorial tribute to Lolita. Animal welfare activists everywhere are feeling a gambit of emotions – shock, sorrow, anger, frustration, disgust, outrage – for decades we have fought for her to be freed from her prison cell and now it is too late.  She lost her battle on August 18, 2023, to what reportedly was renal failure.  As NAVISyaghts.com says, “Miami’s marine community was left in shock with the recent passing of Lolita, the Miami Seaquarium’s [MSQ] beloved orca. Often referred to by names such as Toki, Tokitae, or Lolita the orca, her death after five decades of captivity prompts a deeper dive into the circumstances that encapsulate the life and plight of captive sea mammals.”

A Deeper Dive – Where Her Life Began

Lolita’s story begins in the waters of Pugent Sound in Washington State. She was born to Ocean Sun (L25), and lived the first four years of her life swimming freely in her ocean home with her pod known as the L-pod family of orcas. Her birth name was Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (pronounced SKA-li-CHUKH-teNOT), given to her by the late hereditary Chief Tsi’li’xw of the Lummi Nation.  The Lummi Nation considered her family. The Save Lolita website says the tragedy that began her life in captivity happened on August 8, 1970 where

…in the waters of the Puget Sound of Washington State, a pod of killer whales was attacked and rounded up by a group of killer whale herders led by Ted Griffiths and Don Goldsberry. Using speedboats, and an airplane, and releasing explosives into the water, they forced the orcas into Penn Cove. The juvenile orcas were separated from their mothers, as the infants were prime candidates to be sold to aquariums, while the adult orcas were released and free to leave. However, the adult pod would not leave their offspring and refused to swim free, vocalizing human-like cries until the last baby was pulled out of the water, never to return. One adult and four infant orcas were killed during this capture. In an attempt to keep the orca deaths from the public, the industry instructed the herders to slit open the bellies of the dead animals, fill them with rocks, and sink the creatures with anchors, hoping they would never be discovered. Because of the large number of violent orcas captured by the marine park industry in Washington State waters, an entire generation of orcas was eliminated. As a result, this orca population is now considered an endangered species.

One of the orca infants captured was a four-year-old named Tokitae, who was sold to the Miami Seaquarium. She arrived at the marine park on September 24, 1970, where she was renamed ‘Lolita‘ and has lived there ever since.

The tragic events that took place at the time of her capture were described by Wallie Funk:

They were entrapped in a small area, they were flailing in the air. You could hear a high-pitched squeal and they were communicating with many, many more that were outside the net in Penn Cove.

In imagining this scene, I can hear all the desperate cries of the mothers as their babies were being corralled out of their reach along with the terrified cries of the babies, unbeknownst to them all they would never see each other again.  I can imagine the terror they all felt as loved ones were being killed, their blood mixing with the water; as mothers, brothers, sisters and other family members all fought for their own lives and the lives of their young.  The painful sense of loss felt by those left behind as the young orcas were swept away never to be seen again would have been excruciating.  The fear the babies felt as they were taken away from all they ever knew into a world totally foreign to them would have been harrowing.  Here are some photos from that day; more can be found at the Save Lolita website (photographs courtesy of Wallie V. Funk Photographs, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9123, taken August 8, 1970).

This next photo by ©Terrell C. Newby, Ph.D.:

Lolita’s Life in Captivity

Friends of Toki tell us that, “For almost ten years Toki and Hugo shared the small tank at MSQ until he passed away in 1980. Of the approximately 58 orcas taken from Puget Sound in the 1960’s and 1970’s, Toki [was] the only survivor. Since Hugo’s passing, Toki …had many tank mates to include Risso’s Dolphins, a Common Dolphin, a Long-Finned Pilot Whale, and Pacific White Sided Dolphins.”  At the time of her passing, she was sharing her tank with a Pacific White Sided Dolphin named Lii.  “Toki [was] still today described as kind and gentle, just as she was by Dr. White when he first met her.”

Lolita was about 20 feet long and 7,000 pounds as an adult.  Her tank was 80-foot-long by 35-foot-wide tank, the size of a hotel swimming pool.  “It is now known that killer whales are incredibly intelligent, sentient, and social creatures…. Killer whales can live with their birth families for their entire lives.”  When “not performing in her show, Lolita [floated] listlessly in her tank. In the wild, killer whales swim hundreds of miles daily, diving as deep as 500 feet. In her tank, she [swam] in circles inside the 35-foot wide area and [could] only go as deep as 20 feet in a small area in the center of the tank.”  (Save Lolita website)  Orcas in captivity experience wilted dorsal fin due to not having sufficient space to move around. A deeper look into her daily life can be seen in this video:

Peta tells more of what life was like for Lolita in captivity:

• Lolita lived in the smallest Orca tank in the world and sometimes her living space is made even smaller by dropping the water level from 20 feet to 11 feet
• Dolphins attack her
• She had eye problems for decades
• The lack of shade caused Lolita’s skin to sunburn
• Trainers failed to provide her with adequate enrichment or to create and maintain a meaningful relationship with her
• Drugs are commonplace
• Her teeth had been drilled
• Her environment distressed her

As is written in the Peta article: “Despite Lolita’s declining health and neurotic behavior, the Miami Seaquarium [continued] to put on show after show with its money-making star. Sometimes, [she was] forced to perform two or three times a day, and there were several instances when shows went on even though she wasn’t able to keep her eyes open or had recently undergone invasive procedures.”

We Say NO MORE Imprisonment

I can only imagine what life must have been like for her.  Day after day, decade after decade, swimming in circles, seeing only the concrete walls that surrounded her. Using the dialect unique to her pod, Lolita would call out to her lost family, sadly in vain.  Orcas have keen memories. I have often wondered if she remembered her mother and pod members, or the day she was stolen from them. 

With all we know about the suffering of Lolita and others that have gone before her or are still being held captive, it is easy to see why imprisoning orcas and other cetaceans is cruel and unethical. It must come to an end. These beautiful, intelligent, sentient beings belong in their native waters where they can spend their lives with their families.  Animals were not placed on earth for human entertainment, or as resources or commodities to exploit.  It is an abuse of our power over them to use them in these ways.  In Genesis 2:15, God placed man in the garden to have dominion over it, to care for or cultivate it and maintain or keep it.  The words care/cultivate in the original language is עבד, transliteration `abad.  It means to labour, work, do work; to work for another, serve another by labour.  The words keep/maintain in the original language is שׁמר; transliteration shamar.  It means to keep, have charge of; to keep guard, keep watch and ward, protect, save life. We get an unmistakable image of the dominion given to us as a responsibility to “serve” and “protect” the garden’s inhabitants and the garden itself. Being made in God’s Image is the embodiment of God in order to care for and watch over that which God created.

So Sad to Say Goodbye, Lolita

Lolita’s story has haunted me from the day I first learned of her plight two decades ago. I have advocated for her, cried for her, and prayed for her, alongside thousands of other people. There was such excitiment earlier this year when we heard the new owners of the seaquarium would release her to the seaside sanctuary made for her in the Salish Sea. Toki was being prepared for her return to a large, invigorating enclosure in her natal waters.  Simultaneously, initiating indigenous consultation, government permitting, design and fabrication of her ocean home in the Salish Sea, was underway.

But instead of a hopeful return to her ocean home, we come together to say an unexpected goodbye.  It is painful to say goodbye this way, Dear Lolita. We had hoped to see you released from the listless, painful, agonizing cruelty and loneliness of captivity, into the joy of a new adventure and the prayerful possibility that you would unite with your family. Nonetheless, you are now truly free from anyone or anything that could harm you again.

Lily Marie says in a post on her Live Mercifully Instagram page, “I’m heartbroken over Lolita’s death. 💔 My prayer is that this terrible news will awaken people to the injustice of treating animals like slaves, or commodities, and that somehow what the enemy meant for evil can be used for good!”

And Sharon She writes on a post for the Creation Care Church Instagram page, “We mourn her life of captivity, of loneliness, of suffering under the constraints of this world. Lolita’s life, like many, was spent as a prisoner of sin of selfishness and greed. Jesus came to free us from the sins of this world. In John 14:27, he promises us salvation and a life, not as the world gives, but a life of peace and love in walking with him. … We also spread the message of protecting and speaking out against grievous injustices toward God’s creations like Lolita, HIS BELOVED ORCA.”

Lolita
1966-2023

“There are times, and these not infrequent, when tears come to my eyes when I see, or read, or hear of the wretched plight of animals in the hands of humans. Their pain, their suffering, their loneliness, their innocence, their death. Anger. Rage. Pity. Sorrow. Disgust. The whole creation groans under the weight of the evil we humans visit upon these mute, powerless creatures.”  Professor Tom Regan

This song called “Bring Lolita Home” was produced to raise public awareness and prompt education to protect the Salish Sea and all the life it supports. Though she was never to return to her home in the sea, we know Lolita is home with her Creator.

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Thank you for reading and sharing.  ~Kathy