Tokitae, aka 'Lolita', the last surviving orca captured in the Puget Sound and sold into captivity, dies

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The Miami Seaquarium said in a Facebook post that Tokitae began “exhibiting serious signs of discomfort” over the past two days. Tokitae received treatment from her medical team but died Friday afternoon due to what is believed to be a renal condition.

Tokitae lived in a concrete tank at the Miami Seaquarium for the last 53 years. The Lummi Nation, activists and animal welfare advocates had been fighting for years to bring her back to the Salish Sea.

Honestly, I did not expect a good outcome after more than half a century in captivity.

2

At the risk of being gruesome, what do they do with a dead orca? It’s not like they can just bury one in the backyard.

3

They can’t blow it up, either.

4

Well, not neatly. :whale::fireworks:
I don’t know how long orcas live on average in the wild, so can’t comment on the 53 year longevity. But I bet it would’ve been happier where it was to begin with.

5

Female Orcas live 50 – 90 years in the Wild.

No Orcas should be in captivity.

Though 53 is a good age for captivity. So I guess they at least did something right.

Just a general reminder. Orcas despite their alt-name of Killer Whales are the largest of the Dolphins.

They are also a very intelligent species.

6

Just transport it to a landfill and cover it with dirt, probably. Unless they want the skeleton for display and then probably the same as above except on a site where it won’t be disturbed during decomposition.

7

Maybe they’ll carve it up and feed it to the other capive animals, like that zoo in Europe did when they had too many giraffes.

Emphasizing this.