She was arguably the most famous orca in the United States. Lolita, who had lived at the Miami Seaquarium for 53 years, has died, the water park announced on Twitter. “Despite receiving the best possible medical care, she died on Friday afternoon of what is believed to be a kidney infection,” the Seaquarium said. Lolita had suffered from lung problems in the fall of 2022 but yet seemed to have recovered well.
Captured at the age of 4 in Pacific waters, she was one of the park’s major attractions until 2021 when her performances ceased. Several organizations and associations have indeed mobilized to try to reintroduce it into its original environment, off the coast of the State of Washington, in the north-west of the United States, arguing that it lived in a basin whose she could go around in seconds. The killer whale had also been renamed Tokitae, reduced to Toki, which is the term used by the indigenous peoples of Washington State to name killer whales.
An agreement for its reintroduction
On March 30, an agreement had been signed between the Seaquarium and the association Friends of Toki to organize his reintroduction into his original environment. And even if, indicates the Miami Heraldthere were still many hurdles to overcome for the project to succeed, including obtaining a federal permit to create an aquatic reserve for Toki, the latter’s death when her release was more than just a dream, only more cruel.