00:00 It's a bitter end to a tragic life.
00:03 After a brutal capture in the 1970s and 50 years behind glass, the orca known as Lolita
00:09 and then Tokitae passed away on Sunday at the Miami Seaquarium.
00:14 The killer whale, believed to have been the oldest orca living in captivity, died at the
00:18 age of 57, two days after her health began to deteriorate, apparently from a renal condition.
00:25 The Seaquarium posted a statement announcing the events which led to her death.
00:29 Over the last two days, Toki started exhibiting serious signs of discomfort, which her full
00:35 Miami Seaquarium and friends of Toki's medical team began treating immediately and aggressively.
00:40 Despite receiving the best possible medical care, she passed away Friday afternoon.
00:46 Animal rights activists, including the Native American Lummi Nation, located in the home
00:50 region of Tokitae, have been fighting for years to have the orca freed from her tank
00:55 at the Miami Seaquarium.
00:57 In March, the park's new owner, the Dolphin Company, and the non-profit Friends of Toki
01:02 announced a plan to possibly move her to a natural sea pen in the Pacific Northwest with
01:07 the financial backing of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Ursay.
01:11 Having spent most of her life in captivity, some felt that returning her to open sea was
01:16 not a viable option.
01:17 "There are candidates that are good candidates and there are candidates that are not.
01:22 And this animal was not a good candidate.
01:25 She was habituated, she spent her whole life here.
01:29 The slightest change would throw her off with her diet or her environment."
01:33 Federal and state regulators would have had to approve any plan to move Tokitae, and that
01:38 could have taken months or years.
01:40 Tokitae retired from performing last spring as a condition of the park's new exhibitor's
01:45 license with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
01:48 She's not been displayed publicly since.
01:50 Now the Lummi Nation are working to bring her remains home in order to give her a funeral.
01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]
