Captive orca whale Lolita, who had been at the Miami Seaquarium since 1970, passed away on Friday.
An Instagram post from the Miami Seaquarium claims that Lolita has been showing “serious signs of discomfort” over the past few days. She was sent to the hospital “immediately and aggressively” but ultimately succumbed to “what is believed to be a renal condition” on Friday afternoon, the aquarium reported.
The Lummi people, who she was a part of, were “inspiring to all who had the fortune to hear her story,” the post says. To quote one of her friends: “Those of us who have had the honour and privilege to spend time with her will forever remember her beautiful spirit.” Native Americans from the Lummi Nation live along the Washington and British Columbia coasts, not far from the spot where Lolita was taken captive.
In March, the Miami Seaquarium announced that they would be releasing a 57-year-old whale, variously named as Toki and as Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut by the Lummi people, back into the ocean. Some members of Lolita’s family still swim in the waters recognised by advocates as part of a natural sea pen off Washington state. Her mother, who is 95 years old, is thought to be living.
Locals were “profoundly saddened” to learn about Lolita’s passing, according to a statement released by Mayor of Miami-Dade County Daniella Levine Cava.
Levine Cava stated in a statement, “Today, we say our final goodbye to our beloved Toki, along with the many Miamians who grew up visiting her, the generations of activists around the world that were inspired by her story, and the caretakers who remained dedicated to her until the end.”
“Our collective wish was to see Toki in her native waters and we are heartbroken to learn of this sudden loss,” the mayor continued.
The CEO of the company that runs the Miami Seaquarium, Eduardo Albor, also expressed his sadness at Lolita’s passing.
Nothing we did to help Lolita succeed was ever a waste of time or money. Albor wrote on social media, “My heart is truly broken.”
As the practise of keeping whales in captivity has come under question, animal rights groups, Lummi elders, and the non-profit Friends of Toki pushed for the whale’s release. For the Lummi people, the whale “is family to us, and as such, we must care for her as we do our own,” said a statement from the group Sacred Sea, which is campaigning for the whale’s freedom. “Together we can right the wrong of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s capture and return her to the Salish Sea in a responsible and safe manner,” they said.
According to Friends of Toki, Lolita was the second-oldest captive orca and the only orca ever captured in U.S. waters that was still being kept captive. In 1970, she was picked up off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. According to prior AWN reporting, the whale stopped performing for the public in 2022 and resided in a tank of 80 feet by 35 feet.
The aquarium and the Friends of Toki were working together to get the whale ready for her long journey back to the ocean. The nonprofit organisation had frequent checkups for Lolita with their veterinary doctors. Lolita was reported to be in “relatively stable” condition as of July 31. She had maintained her level of energy and appetite but was suffering from abdominal pain. The aquarium said that, as of August 15, she was “very stable” and “as good as she can be at 50 years of age.”
Both the Miami Seaquarium and the Friends of Toki claimed that medical staff attended to her before she passed away.