The orca Lolita, who had been in captivity for more than 50 years at the Miami Seaquarium, whose captivity has been a subject of controversy among animal protection groups, died this Friday allegedly of "a kidney condition," the oceanarium itself reported in a statement. .
"Over the past two days, Tokitae (as the killer whale was also known) began to show severe signs of discomfort, which his entire medical team began to treat immediately and aggressively," but, "despite receiving the best possible medical attention passed away Friday afternoon...believed to be of a kidney condition," the Miami Seaquarium announced on social media.
According to data provided by animal rights activists, Lolita, who was sold in 1970 to the Miami Seaquarium for about $20,000, was confined to a pool about 60 feet (18 meters) in length and a depth maximum of 20 feet (6.1 meters), and was currently being prepared for release in the waters of the US Pacific, where it was originally from.
Lolita, also known as Tokitae, was one of the most famous captive orcas in the world. She was the last surviving orca of 45 that were captured and released for aquarium display between 1965 and 1973. These were some of the first orcas kept in captivity.
A third of the world's captive orcas are found in the United States, and all but one live at SeaWorld's three parks in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio.
It used to be part of a population of southern resident killer whales that lived in the northeastern part of the North Pacific Ocean. It was the last resident southern orca still living in captivity.
Eduardo Albor, president of The Dolphin Company, the company currently in charge of the Miami Seaquarium, lamented the death of the orca also on social networks.
"With a broken heart, we announce the departure of Lolita this afternoon (...). Lolita was a warrior and the team of Friends of Tokitae and @MiamiSeaquarium true heroes," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
This same week, however, reports published by local media revealed that the famous orca was feeding very well and the center had even made an investment of thousands of dollars to improve the conditions of the pond where it was found.
"Together with the many Miamians who grew up visiting [Lolita], the generations of activists from around the world who were inspired by her story, and the caretakers who remained dedicated to her to the very end, today we say our last goodbye to our beloved Tokitae. "Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a distressed statement Friday.
For its part, the Friends of Tokitae group, a non-profit organization that led the transfer of the orca to North Pacific waters, mourned the death in a statement on its website.
"'Toki' was an inspiration to all who were fortunate enough to hear her story, and especially to the Lummi Nation (a Native American tribe from the coastal Pacific Northwest of Washington state) who considered her family" , the organization wrote.
Its website states that Tokitae was the only surviving orca that was captured in US waters and that it was still in captivity. It was one of the two oldest orcas in this condition.
She had health problems and "reports issued in 2021 and early 2022 suggested that she was seriously ill," he said.
Last March, Levine Cava announced that Lolita was finally going to be transferred to the North Pacific waters where she was born to be released, a goal that has not been met with her death.
The councilor then called a conference to publicize a "historic initiative" referring to the world's most publicized orca, in which personalities and celebrities have been interested.
At that time, representatives of the Seaquarium concession company, which is a subsidiary of the Mexican group The Dolphin Company, and the "Friends of Lolita" association, which oversaw the well-being and health of the orca, attended.
Lolita was captured in that area in 1970 and brought to the Miami Seaquarium in September of that year, which was opened in 1955 on an island in Biscayne Bay and was the setting for the famous television series "Flipper."
The dimensions were not adequate for an animal of its size, which also suffers from loneliness, since there are no more orcas in that aquarium, according to the activists.
The only member of her species that Lolita met after her capture was Hugo, a male orca with whom she shared a pool. But Hugo succumbed to the despair of living in captivity and committed suicide 15 years after her capture. On March 4, 1980, he repeatedly struck the walls of his tank until it caused his own death. His body was dumped at the Miami-Dade landfill. Which is probably also Lolita's final resting place.
The killer whale was well known in Miami and its living conditions have been debated for the past few years. His death has caused some activists to gather at the gates of the oceanarium to honor the animal and denounce that it had not been released before.
There is abundant evidence that cetaceans—whales, dolphins, and porpoises—do not do well in captivity. They are highly intelligent and social animals that are genetically designed to live, migrate, and feed over long distances in the ocean. As Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., explained to National Geographic, killer whales, whether born in captivity or in the wild, bear the brunt.
In part, it is due to its size. Orcas are huge animals that swim vast distances in the wild—an average of 40 miles a day—not because they can, but because they need to, to search for the food that makes up their varied diets and for exercise. They dive between 30 and 150 meters several times a day, every day.
"It's basic biology," Rose says. According to her, a captive-born orca who has never lived in the ocean has the same innate drives. "If you've evolved to move great distances to find food and mates, then you're adapted to that kind of movement, whether you're a polar bear, an elephant, or an orca," Rose says. "You put [orcas] in a box that's 150 feet long by 90 feet wide and 30 feet deep, and basically make them sedentary."
Stress-induced behaviors have been documented in scientific research since the late 1980s. These behaviors, commonly referred to as stereotypes—repetitive patterns of activity that have no obvious function—and often involve self-mutilation, are common in captive animals that they have little or no entertainment and live in enclosures that are too small.
Another symptom of the orcas' poor adaptation to captivity is their poor dental health. A 2017 study in the Archives of Oral Biology found that a quarter of all captive orcas in the United States suffer severe dental damage. 70 percent have some dental damage. In the wild, killer whales also show tooth wear, but it is symmetrical and occurs gradually over decades, in contrast to the severe and regular damage seen in captive killer whales.
According to the study, the damage occurs mainly because captive killer whales rub their teeth against the walls of the tanks, often until the nerves are exposed. These worn parts are open cavities, highly prone to infection even if regularly cleaned with clean water by keepers.
Orcas have the second largest brain among animals on the planet. Just like humans, their brains are highly developed in the areas of social intelligence, language, and self-awareness. In the wild, orcas have close family groups that share a unique and sophisticated culture that has been shown to be passed down through generations. Because of this, their life in captivity is torture and dramatically shortened.
An example of this is that last year, the 93-year-old female orca known as L25 or Ocean Sun, who is considered Lolita's mother, was seen swimming freely in Haro Strait, Washington.
