MIAMI, FLORIDA: Lolita was a female captive orca from the Southern Resident community's L Pod. She had been held in captivity at the Miami Seaquarium in Florida since September 24, 1970.
She was the second-oldest orca in captivity, with only Corky at SeaWorld San Diego being older.
Is Toki the whale still alive?
Lolita, also known as Toki or Tokitae, who had been dubbed the "loneliest whale in the world" died on Friday, August 18.
The Miami Seaquarium confirmed her death. "Despite receiving the best possible medical care, she passed away Friday afternoon from what is believed to be a renal condition," the Seaquarium said in a statement.
Back in March, an important development occurred when The Dolphin Company, the owner of the Seaquarium, and the non-profit organization 'Friends of Lolita,' reached a binding agreement.
The goal of this agreement was to return the whale to her natural habitat in the Pacific Northwest, as reported by the Daily Mail.
During a press conference, the Seaquarium, in collaboration with the non-profit organization and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, announced their collective effort to facilitate Lolita's transition back to her native waters within approximately 18 months.
"I think that she'll be very happy to be back and it will be therapeutic for her contrary to the misconception that it will be stressful," Howard Garrett of Orca Network said at the time.
Who owns The Dolphin Company?
Eduardo Albor serves as the CEO of The Dolphin Company. Founded by Fred D Coppock and Captain W B Gray, the park opened in 1955 as the second marine-life attraction in Florida and the largest of its kind worldwide at that time.
The park's first orca was named Hugo, in honor of Hugo Vihlen. Captured in February 1968 from Vaughn Bay, Hugo was swiftly transported to the Miami Seaquarium, where he was confined to a small pool.
Over the course of 10 years, it became evident from his behavior that Hugo didn't adapt well to his life in captivity, frequently banging his head against the walls of his tank.
What happened to Hugo the Whale?
Within a decade of Lolita's arrival at the aquarium, her companion Hugo died in 1980 due to an aneurysm caused by repeated head trauma. He was 15 years old. This tragic event earned Lolita the title of "the world's loneliest whale."
Experts and concerned individuals had also raised objections about Lolita's captivity conditions, particularly the small size of her tank, measuring 80 feet in length and 35 feet in width. This tank was the smallest of its kind in the United States.
Park operator slammed for keeping Lolita in smallest tank
One person wrote on Twitter, "This was Lolita’s her home for 53 YEARS A pathetically small concrete bathtub They could have let her out long ago. Perhaps the insurance payout $$ following her death was incentive not to? @MiamiSeaquarium and @eduardoalbor should be totally ashamed of themselves."
Another wrote, "Not-so-friendly fucking reminder: To claim Tokitae being exploited for commercial gain or subjected to neglect and abuse began when The Dolphin Company took over is to ignore and excuse over half a centaury of her suffering."
They continued in a follow-up tweet, "She would of died in that fucking tank no matter who was in charge, regardless of any promises anyone made. Trying to pin her death on those who did their best to get her out does nothing but prove you care more about the industry that abused her than you ever did about Tokitae."
Meanwhile, Eduardo Albor is refuting the allegations against him in his own tweet.
He wrote, "You are a shame you judge people ignorant. We did not built this tank 53 years ago nor went out to capture Lolita from the wild. I was barely learning to walk 53 years ago. We came 18 months ago to try and look for an opportunity to ammend something we did not do nor create."
