The last endangered whale in captivity
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2023
⏱️ 42 minutes
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Summary
After half-a-century in a tank, a beloved orca named Tokitae was about to be freed. Then her life ended, and a moment of reckoning began.
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Most of the nearly 50 southern resident orcas taken from the Pacific Northwest during the 1960s and ’70s died within the first years after their capture. One endured. Tokitae spent more than 50 years performing in the Miami Seaquarium’s “whale bowl” – the smallest orca tank in North America.
In March, a plan was announced to move her to a 10-acre netted sanctuary in the San Juan Islands, where she could live out her life in her natal waters. But months before she was due to return home, Tokitae died. What followed was a moment of reckoning.
Today on “Post Reports,” feature writer Caitlin Gibson shares Tokitae’s story and what it reveals about us.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | facing the sparkling waters of the Florida Strait is the Miami Seaquarium, 60 acres of sea |
| 0:09.1 | adventure. |
| 0:10.1 | For decades, starting in the 70s, people flocked to the Miami Sequarium to marvel at its star. |
| 0:17.8 | A whale named Loleida. |
| 0:20.1 | The new complex was made to order the water being regulated at a cozy 65 degrees, just right for killer waves. |
| 0:26.7 | Loleida was an orca, a sleek and powerful whale, black and white, 22 feet long and more than 7,500 pounds. |
| 0:36.0 | She was kept in a pool called the whale bowl. |
| 0:40.0 | There's plenty of room for fun, |
| 0:41.0 | and if they want to, they can even go for a spin. |
| 0:44.4 | It was the smallest orca tank in North America, and Lelita performed there multiple times |
| 0:50.0 | a day for more than five decades. |
| 0:54.0 | To show what perfect manner she has, |
| 0:56.0 | Lelita waves a friendly goodbye. |
| 0:58.0 | But Lelita was just her stage name. |
| 1:02.0 | She was also known as Tokatai. her stage name. |
| 1:02.9 | She was also known as Tokatai, or Toki for short. |
| 1:07.7 | That name was a nod to the place she had come from, the Salish Sea, an arm of the Pacific Ocean bordering |
| 1:15.3 | Washington State. Because Tokatai was not born in captivity. She had been |
| 1:21.8 | taken. And earlier this year a plan was hatched to bring her back. |
| 1:27.0 | It's official Lelita is headed home back to the Pacific Northwest. |
| 1:32.0 | At today's news conference it was announced that a |
| 1:34.0 | formal agreement has been reached between the Sequarium and Advocacy Group, Friends of |
... |
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