Imagine being kidnapped by aliens and kept in a single room for 50 years.
A bunch of mysterious extraterrestrials do their best to care for you in that room and encourage you to do tricks for an audience of aliens.
You’re entirely alone, and no one speaks your language.
The room and these aliens become your whole world.
Then suddenly, in your senior years, after a lifetime of performing, the aliens decide it’s time for you to return home.
This is happening to Lolita, also known as Tokitae or Toki. She’s a 57-year-old southern resident orca.
Originally from L-pod, she was captured and taken to live in Miami Sea Aquarium when she was just four years old.
She’s lived for the past 50 years in what the Orca Network has said is the oldest and smallest container for whales in the US.
But this era of her life seems to be coming to a sudden end, and it’s bittersweet, to say the least.
Lolita’s owner and killer whale advocates announced Thursday that they plan to return her to waters off our coast to reunite her with family members in L-pod.
“This is a momentous, historic event,” said Howard Garrett, president of the Orca Network in Washington state, which has lobbied for the whale’s release since 1995.
Historic definitely, but whether the plan will end in joy or tragedy is yet to unfold.
Andrew Trites, director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at UBC, recalled the effort to release Keiko, the star of the Free Willy movie.
“He died alone of pneumonia,” Trites said. “And it shows that in this case, he was never accepted back into a pod of killer whales…I don’t think [Lolita] is a candidate to be released because of her age. She’s been cared for almost her entire life and is very unlikely to be accepted again.”
Stockholm syndrome is a hell of a mental state. And after 50 years, Lolita might not still have the skills she needs to survive by herself in her natural habitat.
Beyond basic survival abilities, the most stressful aspect of her return is whether her family will recognize her.
Orca communities have their own dialects. Toki still calls out in the L-pod dialect, but we have no idea how far her communication skills have deteriorated.
But, there’s still a chance that she could retain enough memories to thrive, and the researchers in charge of her release believe it’s a chance worth taking.
“Immersion in natural seawater is the best place for any marine mammal,” said Garrett. “I think it will elevate her mood and spirits.”
Ocean Sun, believed to be Lolita’s mother, is still alive. Garrett thinks her mother would recognize her. “These are indelible memories, and they have huge brains. That’s a lot of memory capacity.”
Garrett also thinks she’ll have retained the knowledge of how to catch food on her own. “She may have that muscle memory still.”
Lolita will likely first go into a sea pen, possibly among the San Juan Islands, before any release, and she would be monitored the whole time. “If she needs help, she’ll get help,” Garrett said. “She won’t just be let loose.”
Beyond Lolita’s health, there’s also the question of if she could release a new pathogen into the wild orca population.
This could be devastating, but at the moment, the $15-20 million plan to set her free is still going through.
The plan was instigated after Eduardo Albor, chief executive of The Dolphin Company, bought the Miami Sea Aquarium.
Before he bought the park, Albor took his daughter for a visit, where she said: “This place is too small for Lolita,” and made him promise to help the orca if his company bought the park.
He’s following through on this promise to his daughter, but we’ll find out soon if the risks are worth it.
While most people much appreciate the symbolism of releasing Lolita, as Trites said. “At the same time, we are talking about the life of an animal and what is in her best interest.”
