Lolita “Tokitae”

Meet Lolita. She is one of the oldest orcas in captivity and she is kept in the oldest and smallest orca tank in the United States. This is her story. Lolita, meaning “sorrows” is her captive name but Tokitae, meaning “nice day, pretty colors,” and this is the name we know her by here in the Pacific Northwest, her native home. She is a 20-foot long, 7000 lb. Southern Resident orca who was kidnapped from our waters and sold to the Miami Seaquarium. A local passenger ferry currently running the Mukilteo- Clinton route is named after her. Here are the events that unfolded one truly sorrowful day, resulting in her current captive situation: Capture By early 1970, a minimum of 16 members of Lolita’s extended family, the Southern Resident whales, had been kidnapped and sold. Even more tragically, many others were killed during these captures. On August 8, 1970, the day of Lolita’s capture, her entire clan was headed north in Admiralty Inlet. A spotter plane identified them and notified the fast catcher boats. Once they were upon the whales the speedboats raced around the pod, bombs exploding. They herded the orcas northeast, around the southern tip of Whidbey Island. Orcas can swim over 30 mph but the speedboats were much faster. The boats wanted to herd the whales into Holmes Harbor, but the whales split into two groups causing confusion among the captors and slowing them down. The speedboats chose to pursue the group of several young whales headed east. Later the planes saw the mothers and calves headed north, probably intending to escape through Deception Pass. The capture boats managed to get ahead of the orca group heading north in time to force them into Penn Cove and then into the farthest reaches of the cove. Soon seiners (boats that use drag nets under water) arrived and strung long nets around the whales. Next a floating pen was assembled inside the seine net for the final separation of babies and juveniles from their mothers. A few hours later the other group of whales that had escaped the initial capture came into Penn Cove. When the captors saw them, they quickly sent the seiners out to set another net around them. By now nearly a hundred whales were captured, including at least 12 between the ages of two and five, the right ages for shipping and training. The captors set about pushing the adults, first the males and then the mothers of the younger calves, out beyond the outside nets. By all accounts the whales were extremely agitated, both inside and outside the nets. They were breaching high out of the water and slapping their flukes and flippers, creating a background staccato of gunshot-like explosions. They repeatedly spy-hopped (when the whale vertically pokes its head out of the water) as high as they were capable of, to see what was going on. Piercing, screaming vocalizations were heard incessantly both below and about the water. Shortly after the nets were drawn shut, four babies, less than two years old charged into the net to rejoin their mothers and got caught in the nets. For a time they were in bodily contact with their mothers and other family members through the net, but as they twisted and convulsed to get free, the net wrapped tightly around them and they all drowned. One of the mothers tried to force her way into the net, only to get tangled as well and she also drowned. Local reporters discovered that tragic mother’s carcass but the babies’ bodies were hidden from the public. The drowned calves had their bellies cut, their carcasses filled with rocks and weighted chains, and their bodies were taken away at night for secret disposal. This was done to keep the tragic event from the public. Three of the bodies washed onto the shores of Whidbey Island on November 18, 1970. Six years later, Sea World settled in court, agreeing to never capture orcas in Washington State again (to avoid taking blame for the aforementioned events). The court ordered Sea World to give up it’s permits, and no further orcas have been captured in Washington waters. However it was too late for the dozens of Southern Residents already taken or those who had already perished. Lolita Gets Her Name and Learns Her Fate Lolita was one of seven young Orca calves sold to different marine parks around the world from the 1970 roundup of over more than 80 orcas. Of the six other young Orcas, two were shipped to marine parks in Japan, and one each went to parks in Texas, the UK, France and Australia. They were all young calves, but with the exception of Lolita, they all died within five years of their capture. Dr. Jesse White to veterinarian for the Miami Seaquarium chose Lolita. He came to Washington to select a female companion for Hugo, the three-year-old male captured over a year earlier and sold to the Seaquarium. Dr. White admired a particular little female and soon chose her. He purchased her for a mere $6000. Dr. White had visited a curio shop while in Seattle and saw the name Tokitae on a carving, a name he bestowed on the little whale, who seemed “so courageous and yet so gentle.” She arrived in Miami September, 24 1970 and she quickly became a show business personality. The Seaquarium owners didn’t want people to know where she came from, so she needed a name that said Miami instead of Seattle. Her stage name became Lolita. Given companionship and medical care, she has managed to outlive all of the approximately other 44 whales from her community, who survived capture operations and were delivered to parks within three years of her capture. Her only orca companion was Hugo, who was most likely closely related. They shared their tiny unsheltered dilapidated cement tank together for ten years. Then in 1980, Hugo decided he’d finally had enough and bashed his head against the wall of their tank, resulting in a brain aneurysm and his death. Lolita has not seen another Orca since. Orcas are extremely social. Their brains are five times the size of ours and they have an extra portion completely relating to emotion that we don’t even have. That means orcas have an emotional life that we cannot even comprehend! The Life of a Captive Performer Since 1970 Lolita has performed reliably, entertaining visitors at the Miami Seaquarium. She has no alternative choice than to perform her routines if she wants to eat, receive attention and/or affection. Occasionally she has refused to perform, but fortunately for her mental health, those angry or depressed moods seem to be rare. This even temperament is most likely a factor as to why she has survived so long in such a tiny tank. Lolita’s habitat is not a reasonable habitat for a whale. The minimum horizontal dimension should, by law, be at least 48’ wide in both directions. From the front wall to the wall that forms the barrier the pool is only 35’ wide. This is the equivalent of you living in your own bath tub. Wild Orca’s travel on average 75 miles per day and sometimes over 100 miles per day. Lolita continues performing her shows by day and bobbing listlessly between shows, all night long. Like all whales and dolphins, she doesn’t sleep. Cetaceans have to remain conscious to control their breathing. She has been choosing to live and breathe despite being in-prisoned in a tiny cement tank (where her sonar is useless) for over 44 years. Female orcas live approximately 50- 80 years in the wild. We have one who’s over 100 years old, in the Puget Sound, named Granny! Orcas live an average of only 20 years in captivity. Somehow Lolita has found the strength and fortitude to surpass this despite the fact that she has not seen and only once heard another orca in over 34 years. In 1995, a crew from Dateline NBC visited her tank, bearing recordings of vocalizations from her pod taped by Ken Balcomb (of the Center for Whale Research). When she heard the recording she came halfway out of the water and leaned in so that her inner ear on the side of her head was as close as possible to that little speaker. Demonstrating to many that she recognized her family communicating and she continues to use vocalizations and calls that are identical to those that her family use today (the L25 subpod, named after the presumed matriarch). Lolita has always tried to create a bond of friendship with a trusted companion. This gives us an indication of her normal, natural relationships with family members. She can perfectly recall the meaning of a hand signal that she hasn’t seen in more than eight years, that requests her to perform a silly trick. Indications are that if she were allowed to be reunited with her family, even by an acoustic linkup, Lolita would remember how to communicate with her mother and the rest of her family, and they would remember. Lolita still makes her family’s calls. There are four living females among L pod who are the right age to possibly be Lolita’s mother. But it is suspected that L25, Ocean Sun is Lolita’s mother. Trainers at the Seaquarium seem to care for Lolita and try to give her companionship. She seems to enjoy their presence, but when compared to the 24-hour a day lifetime company she could have with her orca family, such playful moments are clearly insufficient. Bringing Her Home Biologically and logistically Lolita is an excellent candidate for return to her home waters. She could retire to a monitored sea pen with the option of rejoining her family, but objections to her return by the park have so far obstructed her freedom. Living in the sea pen she will feel the tides of the ocean, smell and experience the Salish Sea’s salt water again. She will be able to catch and savor LIVE fish and most importantly she will be able to see and interact with her family again! She will be taken care of and fed if needed. Best of all, after she has regained her metabolic strength and stamina and continues to demonstrate her competence to forage, she may eventually be able to leave with her family to live the rest of her life in freedom. For example, here is one version of a proposed sea pen. In 2013 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agreed to consider Orca Network’s and PETA’s petition to recognize Lolita as a member of an endangered species. The Southern Residents have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 2005 and only approximately 80 remain. Lolita was originally excluded from endangered status based on her captivity. Before opening the case to public comment in March 2014, NOAA agreed in principle, with granting Lolita endangered status. Its final ruling, January 2015 granted her protection under the Endangered Species Act, pending the trial period. Although the impact of this decision is not yet known, Project Seawolf Coastal Protection is hopeful... and we are fully committed to ending her live of “sorrows” in captivity and bringing her home. That will be a “nice day” with “pretty colors” indeed. Written by Marlenea Cousin and photo of Mrs. Cousin holding a sign during a Lolita captivity protest rally at Alki Beach, Seattle.
 

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