There must be some reason why its the FORMER trainers speaking against Tokis release and not the CURRENT trainers... The current trainers are happy for her and will be going with her!
Yes I agree. Why can't they release the whale in the ocean why a sea pen I know it's better than a pool, but as large as these whales are they were meant to swim long distances not in circles
@@JenniferO2323 The main goal is the free ocean. If Lolita learns to hunt her own fish in the sea pen and makes contact with her family, she will be released! Just watched a new interview about it.
@@JenniferO2323they can't release her directly into the ocean. They need to make sure that she knows still knows how to hunt and feed herself. Being able to feed himself was a issue for a long time with Keiko. Toki needs to relearn all the natural behaviors that she had before. The behaviors necessary to survive in the wild. The sea pen would have been so much better than her tank. Much larger Clean water Live, fresh fish rather than rotten fish that she was fed in captivity. The ability to swim longer distances and, most importantly, the ability to dive to it natural depth. Toki has had so little exercise for so long that she needs to build back up to it. You took a marathon runner and only allowed him to walk around the block for fifty years, it might take him some time to build back up to being able to run a marathon.
It has been claimed by Friends of Toki and the Miami Seaquarium that they were negotiating for her release and had even selected a site for a sea sanctuary. However, according to NOAA's official statement, there were no proposals received from Friends of Toki or the Seaquarium. NOAA's official statement: 'At the time of her death, we had not received any proposals upon which to act; therefore, we were unable to evaluate any potential action.' Furthermore, Friends of Toki also stated that she was in perfect health just a few weeks before her passing, but the necropsy revealed that she had significant health issues. Lolita had chronic pneumonia, chronic cardiac valvular disease, and deteriorating kidney function. The Seaquarium returned her ashes to her home, but it's not enough to earn them praise for doing the bare minimum.
There was no sanctuary. Not only was there no sanctuary, but no permits had been submitted. The Miami Seaquarium and Friends of Toki never submitted any permits because they knew NOAA and the state of Washington would never approve of a sanctuary, let alone Toki's release. Two days before Toki passed away, Miami Seaquarium and Friends of Toki raved about her physical condition. They said she was in excellent health. All lies. No criticism is allowed against Eduardo Albor and Friends of Toki. If they loved her so much, why didn't they do anything to shield her from the scorching sun? They lied about her health so they could continue to accept public donations for an imaginary sanctuary. 😔
And the permit saying the Whale Bowl was a sound building expired two days right before Toki died! There’s something going on because moving Li’i would be easier to move than an Orca
What annoys me about the situation ... The activists and the Dolphin Company both knew full well that Toki was in the process of dying. And it was this activist group who stood firm that they would champion Toki's release, and that this release would be beneficial to her long-term health. But for the duration of their involvement changes to Toki's surroundings were rather small. Sometimes she got some new toys which she interacted with. But many long-standing issues were ignored. They never considered moving her to another facility where she could potentially receive treatment - or even try something Keiko-style where she could be rehabilitated. That's not saying that Keiko's integration was perfect - it very much was not - but I do believe that his time in Oregon saw him in the best health since his capture. But here - little was considered for her welfare. Toki's wellbeing would wait until she saw 'sanctuary'. And inevitably the actions of the activist group were insufficient. Not only was there no sanctuary as you had said... but the goal wasn't to have Toki's wellbeing improved from the smallest orca tank in the western world - the goal was always to have another 'Free Willy' story on how the AR groups helped save the planet again. But the group failed at what it set out to do. And I do believe that the plans were to use the sanctuary ploy as a facade. And then when the orca has died - is it the Activist Group that get targeted for doing little to ensure her welfare? No - for their intentions were only ever benign - so they said. And of course now many radical activists see Toki's death as a failure of The Dolphin Company - which admittedly it was - but I believe that the activist group was complicit in her death.
A sad ending to a sad life. Toki had so many medical issues. She had chronic pneumonia, chronic cardiac valvular disease, and deteriorating kidney function. The Miami Seaquarium lied to the public, claiming she was healthy when she was anything but. Just three days before Toki passed away, the owner tweeted that she was in 'excellent health.' Friends of Toki told everyone she would soon be moved to a sea sanctuary even though they never filed any permits (and she was too ill to be moved anyway). NOAA has stated they had not received any proposals.
I wanna know HOW MUCH money that Vet was paid to say ANY Orca would be better living in dirty water and eating rotten fish ! how much ?? I’m just happy I was schooled about how the whales are treated in these jails so I was able to educate my grandson. WHEN does this stop ?
What happened to Tokitae (& others like her) was CRIMINAL! UNbelievable! TOTALLY heartbreaking ... for us, yes, but imagine how much moreso it was for HER! WORSE than DESPICABLE!
She deserved better than what us humans did to her. May she rest in peace and May everyone who contributed to her torture and torment develop a horrific and incurable crotch rash.
An Orca is superbly designed to swim Miles in the open seas.. It is unthinkable that She should be kept from enjoying the smells & tastes to Her Home Waters in Her Retirement after bringing Millions of Dollars to her capturers & wardens for over 50 Years.!
Seems to me if she could tolerate the life she has lived for 50 years, then she is more than able to tolerate the change she will endure to go home. I understand the concern from those who have been with her, but she deserves to experience going home. Even if it harms her, which it may temporarily, how can she be denied that chance. Spirit is moving this.
The thing is she was a very old animal, and the stress of such a long trip could kill her. Sending her to SeaWorld would have take just few weeks of planning and a one hour trip for her going to a bigger place with other orcas. But no, better a project that can take years to become a reality. Now we know the result of that
Let's ask children their opinion on Lolita/Tokitae's possible future. Let's not leave the decision to those who would likely still be chaining Elephants to cement blocks in barred cages for public entertainment.
I'm sorry but a "veterinarian" who participated in the suffering of this whale, colluding in her captivity has NO credibility as far as morals or integrity goes. Those trainers are extraordinarily selfish and self-centered and have NO self awareness of that selfishness. They don't "know her best" as the announcer claims. They know a SHELL of a once magnificent creature. There is WAY too much documented evidence from the history of captivity and what it does to cetaceans. The NUMEROUS and ACTUAL experts are the whale biologists who actually know what is natural to these creatures (and it is not living in a cement tu) --dulling all their natural impulses). In way too many cases these whales (and dolphins) either die or become violent because of the toll it takes on them physically and mentally. This "vet' and "trainers" who have exploited her should NOT be speaking for her. Unlike other trainers who have come forward to speak for the whales and their suffering over many years, they sat silently making their egos and their purses fat off her suffering.
We tried so hard to bring her home. Under a veil of secrecy we buried her in our tribal ceremonial funeral befitting a treasured family member. Unlike the nightmare disposal of her prior tank mate Hugo. Our tribe cherish our friends of the sea and take very good care of our orcas.
Thank you for your coment....people are so undeniable about animals and wars....terrible programming we been having with tv ....animals belong to nature...next close the multimillion dollar business ZOO industry....God bless you
I cant understand anyone that disagrees with getting this whale out in to a sea pen. Those former trainers and the vet have had personal experience with the whale. I can see they love her but that is clouding their judgement on this issue. Its almost like they're ignoring the fact that Tokitae will still be looked after by humans. Only in a natural location. Anyone that is actively trying to stop that happening is a selfish person indeed!
The sea pen is the beginning of the end. There will be ceaseless pressure to take her on sea walks, introduce her to the wild orcas, and release her. She will transmit disease to the wild orcas and they will terrify her. She will get sick and she is going to suffer and die like keiko. I'm so sorry people think this is what's best for her. It makes me sad.
@@michaelrenner9182 You make me sad sir. To believe that beautiful, intelligent creature should stay in that small, cramped, dirty, disgusting excuse for a pool just bc it's the only home she's ever known is a travesty. Just bc it's the only home she's ever known doesn't make it a good home. She deserves better. It's unbelievable that she has made her owners millions of dollars that they never put back into her surroundings or care and now that she can't perform and make them money anymore, now is when they decide it's ok for her to go home. Corporate greed is truly disgusting. She deserves a better home whether that's an open sea pen or otherwise. I can't believe you would truly say that she should stay in that tiny pool just bc that's where she's been for so long. It's like saying a 60 year old man that's lived in a one room apt his whole life shouldn't get to move to a house with more rooms just bc that's what he's known his whole life. The time has come to do right by this animal and that certainly is not leaving her in that sorry excuse for a home.
@@michaelrenner9182 How can she make other orcas sick when she is healthy herself? Thats ridiculous. She is in the best shape ever! And they dont plan on releasing her soon to the ocean. The plan is to live in the sea pen for the rest of her life. Anything other is just an option...
The awareness and frankly the forgiveness these animals show us makes keeping them incarcerated absolutely unforgivable. They clearly are powerful enough to hurt anything they want to, and yet, they don't. The time is NOW to prohibit keeping these animals in tanks anywhere in the world. Lolita/Tokitae is an amazing animal, her acceptance of her condition is humbling. 😔
Tokitae was essentially stockholmed and forced into a domesticated taming - likely drugged up and demoralized from her poor conditions into being a submissive and passive gentle creature. I bet she is a genuinely loving compassionate being, but she also had no will to fight back... instead she was just a kind victim of humankind. She had a will to live despite her loneliness and depression, the sea pen would have done her wonders I bet. An animal that is aggressive towards his or her handlers and trainers shouldn't be considered as bad, unkind animals - but animals demonstrating their sheer stress with their exploitative conditions. Tokitae was a gentle soul, but she really deserved so much better.
I been signing petitions for 20 years demanding Tokitae be freed! Now she is dead and we cannot help her but....Tokitae's tank mate is still alive, his name is Li'l. He was captured in 1988, that's 35 years in prison! Lets work to get him free! I just saw a video of Li'l swimming mad circles around the filthy tank and what appeared to be him slamming his body on the side of the tank. 😞 FREE Li'L NOW! Tokitae's mother is still alive at 90! If we had freed her 20 years ago when she was 30 her mother would have taught her what she needed to survive. Like elephants they never forget family.
She is so cute 🥺 It breaks my heart what was done to her and seeing that disgustingly small tank she is forced to live in. Poor thing. I hope the various agencies expedite the paperwork so she can live the rest of her life out somewhere better 🖤
Thank you Mr. Irsay, bless you for your generosity. Please use whatever influence you have to make this happen as soon as possible! Tokitae deserves to be free for as long as possible, be it long or short. Her HOME is where she was taken from, not a tank that is too small, too warm & eating fish that's been frozen rather than fresh fish she's caught herself.
Was at the Seaquarium that Sunday after two days of her passing. Came out on the Spanish news and was recorded by the American Press that day outside the park with Peta activists. l didn't give my name to Miami Herald because l didn't go there for recognition. I went there to pay my respects to Toki and to give her a voice she couldn't use because of the innocent conditions she was restricted to. Her death was so sudden and shocking. I believe her spirit is content now in the spirit world where our real home is before we are all born. 😔 🕊 💙
I think that the trainer's in the veterinarian from the Miami Seaquarium saying that tokitae was happy and had strong bonds with with the trainers is similar to slave owners saying what a great relationship they had with their slaves.
Best of lucks Tokatae! Hope you’ll be having a nice, calm, relaxed and quiet long healthy free life for once thank you for done for her, animal enthusiast.
RIP Lolita aka Tokitae died today, Friday August 18, 2023 after the new owners of the Miami Seaquarium had agreed to a sea pen relocation to her native waters 😢
The fact that the former trainer only has selfish reasons to not free her & trusts/supports seaworld says all we need to know about her honestly... she isn't to be taken seriously or trusted! Tokitae/ Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut, deserved to be free in her true home (Salish Sea) & near/with her true family (L Pod & Lummi Nation) to live out her life in peace.
As much as I hoped and prayed for this beautiful baby to go home with her mom and pod,I knew “something would happen to her” I know they killed her!! They weren’t going to move her!
"Research shows that whales being in captivity stunts their development and starves them of stimulation and social needs." I feel like you didn't need a study to tell anybody that, is exactly like humans in prison. Do humans in a concrete box do well mentally? NO. Highly intelligent creatures are no different than us in these situations. I hope Toki can be in home waters soon, I believe the move will be hard on her the same way being ripped away from her family was hard on her, but she's obviously lived this long, she's strong willed. My greatest wish for her is that she thrives and her family will hear her calls and come by her seapen and pay her visits. Unlike in Keiko's release where he was never accepted into a pod, we know he exact pod she came from and orca who knew her and speak her language are still alive. She was 4 when she was captured so she'd remember a bit more than other whales captured younger. Even if she's never able to be let fully free because she can't survive in the wild, if her family knows she's ok and she can see other orca again, that's just wonderful!
I really hope they move her sooner than later , she deserves to feel the sway off the ocean & hear her family because she will they so intelligent & spiritual & emotional, she will be free after a lifetime of being locked up so cut the RED tape and give her a chance ❤
They're following a similar, but seemingly more rounded out plan to the one used with Keiko. I will say that the intent to feed her salmon instead of teaching her to hunt salmon may be not a great move but if she reconnects with her family, it could be that she learns from them anyway
Quite frankly how would them feel if it was there child looked up !! She will be fine anything’s better than what she has know , so mind ye business trainers it not your call , she’s going to die anyway so rather as a free Orca “ Freeher !! Every Orca realice has turned out fine Orcas are STRONG!!!’❤
Trainers and Orca show people don't want it to work because if it does with oldest orca in captivity then there will be no excuse not to retire all captive orcas to sea pens near their birth waters. That is why they are pushing back so much, certainly not because of their "love" of these poor animals. I used to go to the Miami Seaquarium as a child and I loved seeing Lolita, but as I got older it just made me sad to see her in that tiny tank. Then I learned how she got there and it was and is just horrible. That vet and those trainers are disgusting. How do they think that disgusting park is where she needs to say. How do they think feeding her rotten fish was them caring for her health? I absolutely love how in one sentence they'll say how well she was cared for and in the next breath say she's so riddled with disease that she's a risk to the wild orcas. Which is it? You took great care of her or she was neglected so badly that she's sick enough to risk wild orcas. Shame on them. That vet is the most disgusting of them all. He wants her to stay in that tank specifically. Gross.
The oldest Orca in captivity even when Tokitae was alive is Corky II in San Diego, she’s a Northern Resident from the same area as Toki, all the push to free Toki should honestly be dedicated to Corky now
Human mankind ambitions doesn't have an end, capturing a creature that is suppose to be free in the Sea, capturing and treating them as toys and using them as an amusement, just for the simple pleasure of mankind to make a profit at their expenses, shame on humans.
Poor girl.... an exploited and highly intelligent depressed being who was stockholmed into horrible conditions. She was lonesome and suffering, trapped and abused. The sheer neglect and sickness of humans only valuing her for her entertainment potentials is abhorrent and deranged. I'm thankful so many people genuinely tried to get her out of that prison pool, but sadly she just got too sick and ended up dying. She was already mentally ill to such a great extent, this majestic and utterly sensitive animal was desecrated over years for the sake of money and noteritiey.
I hate to hear about the argument of cost to get her home. That baby made them millions! Any amount to get her home should have been paid and a done deal!
Just hearing about the costs makes me batshit insane!!!! We incurred all those costs to abduct her in the first place but that wasn't a problem then, was it!!! I believe she was murdered outright. They didnt want to spend the time or money on her and she wasnt making any money and I believe those greedy mfers decided the Almighty Dollar was more important!!!! Rest in Paradise, Tokitae/Lolita. I am so sorry you never got to be reunited with your family.... 😭😭😭😭😭
Of course it does. I havent watch this yet but Orca's don't drink water so they get water from their food ...... LIVING food. Dead fish that has been frozen and defrosted is drained from all liquids.
How come they don't release young wales? Is it because at 50 she is useless? Also why they don't release the full pod from captivity? Wouldn't this rezolve the solitude? Aren't they already accustomed with eachother?
This is the worst story now she’s dead. Very suspicious. Criminal vet saying she is happy in that tiny concrete bowl, all her behavior tells you she’s depressed. Humans are paying for torturing animals.
Now that she’s passed away and not tortured by this move I hope everyone involved is terribly ashamed that this ever happened. Lowering the temperature of a hot Miami swimming pool would never have prepared this human like Mammal for moving and ice water and being moved from roasting sun ridiculous bless her soul she left on her own and has been dissected and cremated. Nothing is worth this ever 20,000$. Sad pathetic ridiculous shameful
I don't understand... why couldn't they just build her a HUGE tank instead? Leaving the place where she spent 50 years would not have actually helped her. She bonded with the people who cared for her, she was hand fed etc. A bigger tank would not cost this much..and she wouldn't have to endure such a huge change. So stupid. RIP poor girl :(
I think this was very sad from the beginning. I think we need to stop capturing wild animals and predatory fashion to put on display for amusement. I believe in natural parks or zoos where the natural environment can be preserved for the wildlife contained within. I don't believe any of that was fair. I believe it was a very compassionate attempt for us to bring her back to the Pacific Northwest and reunite her. But she was so sick from her environment in Florida. There's so much available with technology these days that we can experience all this and more without having to capture these animals and treat them like that! We can also bring people out on boats to watch whales instead of having to capture them in a small pool and force them to do tricks! My final statement and point with all this is that if we have enough technology nowadays to see everything through a virtual world and we have the ability to keep things in natural habitat and still observe them then there is absolutely no reason to put any animal through anything like that! We need to reform our loss on how we deal with this stuff it needs attention.
If you’re going to criticize how they handled his release then I recommend at least looking up his name instead of calling him the “free Willy whale”. Keiko survived for five years living as free as he could and his trainers kept him company. He had a happier life of five more years than Toki did in half a century
