50 years in captivity ~ AUGUST 8, 2020
A summary of “Tokitae Remembers Her Home and Family” by Howard Garrett
Dr. Jesse White chose her because he said, she was “so courageous, and yet so gentle.” He named her Tokitae (TOE-Key-Tie) a coastal Salish greeting meaning “nice day, pretty colors.” She truly is unfathomably courageous and gentle. She waits, alone and confined in concrete, all day and all night except for shows and brief playtimes.
How does she persevere?
How does Toki maintain her endurance, her gracious compliance, her sanity? All the other 50+ orcas delivered to theme parks from the Salish Sea before 1976 had died by 1987. Hugo effectively committed suicide in the tank with her, yet she is still going strong to this day. Did she learn her patient character and self-control from her mother and family? Tokitae learned very young to be a member of her family, her culture, and community. That shared self is her experience and isn’t forgotten, even after fifty years captive in a tank in Miami. She still knows who she really is, and how to be a Southern Resident orca.
If/when she returns home it won’t only give her a chance to have her life back.
The eyes of the world will be on her. And we may all learn who she really is.
Together we are #United4Lolita
