Where Lolita Belongs - with her family
©2009 Carole May
In the period of 1965 – 1973, orcas were captured and taken from Puget Sound, their home, and sold to aquariums. When an orca was taken it did not affect just that orca. It affected their entire pod. An orca pod is a family. Orca pods have their own language, society, and culture. Taking an orca from its pod is equivalent to taking a child from its family.
Lolita
Such is the case of Lolita, who was captured on August 8, 1970. In her case, not only was she ripped from her home, many of her family members were killed in the process. During these captures, boats, planes and explosives were used to herd the whales into Penn Cove on Whidbey Island in Washington state. Not only was Lolita captured that day, six other orcas were also captured and five were killed.
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Lolita, where she does NOT belong! - Photo courtesy
of Orca Network
Orcas For Sale
Word was sent out that orcas were for sale, which brought Jesse White, the veterinarian from Miami’s Seaquarium to Seattle. He was looking to buy a companion for the orca they already had called Hugo. He bought a female and named her “Tokitae” which is a coast Salish word used by all the tribes meaning “nice day, pretty colors”. He had seen this word in a souvenir shop and thought it fit the beauty of the orca he purchased.
Tokitae
Tokitae was taken to the Miami Seaquarium, where she remains to this day. She and Hugo were in separate tanks, but since they were both Southern Resident Orcas and shared the same vocalizations, they would call to each other. The story is that the owner’s wife thought this was romantic and she wanted Tokitae’s name changed to Lolita, after the title of a 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. This name change also made her origin seem more like she was from Miami than from the Pacific Northwest. Tokitae became known from then on as Lolita, although it is said that some of her trainers still call her Toki.
Lolita and Hugo at the Miami Seaquarium
Photo courtesy of Orca Network
Hugo
Hugo did not do well in captivity. He was kept in a tiny tank made for a manatee. He often banged his head against the walls of his tank. At one point, he banged against the glass of the underwater viewing window, broke it, and cut off the tip of his rostrum. The veterinarian had to sew it back on. The banging of his head against the walls resulted in a brain aneurism and Hugo died in 1980 at the young age of 15.
See also:
An Orca Named Lolita - Part 1
Bring Lolita Home - 3 Upcoming Events
For more info:
Comments
Another fantastic, educational article :) Good work, friend! Keep it up!
Lolita will have her well-deserved freedom someday - and someday soon - if we continue to work like this! I can picture her back with her pod! That will be the best day of my life to see her free again!
Yours and mine both. I hope when that day happens, you will come to WA for a visit :)
And yes, I am going to keep this up until she is back where she belongs. You can count on it!
I'm enjoying your articles so far, but I wanted to note that Hugo could not have been thirteen years old when he died. He had been at the Miami Seaquarium for twelve years, but at his death, he was a full grown adult (as pictured). According to Erich Hoyt's data, he was about 13 feet long and weighed nearly a ton when captured, which would put him around 7-8 years old.
A male orca dying in his late teens or early 20s is still dying far too young, though.
Thanks, Kim. I did some more digging and since Hugo was 13 feet when he was captured that would mean he was about 3 years old. He was at the Miami Seaquarium for 12 years, so that would make him 15 years old at the time of his death. Much, much too young.
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