Lolita, the Miami Seaquarium orca, died Friday as hopes grew she would leave for the sea

Lolita, the orca that was a star attraction in captivity at the Seaquarium, died Friday as plans to move her out of the Miami theme park were beginning to take shape. She was believed to be 57 at the time of her death.

Now known as Toki, a name adopted by advocates urging her freedotm, the killer whale had suffered health problems in her Seaquarium tank last fall before seeming to recover, according to recent interviews with her training staff.

In a social media post, the Seaquarium said Lolita developed a renal condition in recent days.

“Toki was an inspiration to all who had the fortune to hear her story, and especially to the Lummi nation that considered her family,” the statement said, referring to indigenous people in her natural waters off Washington state, where she was captured at age four.

SEE MORE: Lolita through the years

A non-profit backed by Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, had been partnering with the Seaquarium to move Lolita to a sea pen off Washington state and was training her for the eventual move.

The non-profit, Friends of Toki, released the same statement as the Seaquarium, with some details about her failing health: “Over the last two days, Toki started exhibiting serious signs of discomfort, which her full Miami Seaquarium and Friends of Toki medical team began treating immediately and aggressively. Despite receiving the best possible medical care, she passed away Friday afternoon from what is believed to be a renal condition.”

Toki was a shortened version of Tokitae, the name given the orca by indigenous people in Washington state, who have for years advocated to return the mammal to her native waters. Friends of Toki was in talks with tribes in Washington to assist with the plan to transfer Lolita to the pen, where she would continue being fed and given medical care but with far more room to swim amid natural waters with sea life traveling in and out of the netting.

Some of her handlers in Miami planned to move to Washington to remain working with Lolita after the relocation in an ongoing care operation funded by Friends of Toki, Charles Vinick, the group’s director, said in a recent interview.

“All who want to, we’d want to move with her,” he said. “They’re the people she trusts.”

Friends of Toki had paid to upgrade the chilling equipment in Lolita’s Seaquarium tank, and hired a trainer , veterinarian and others to help supervise her care and training. That included introducing the car-sized sling that was planned to hoist her out of the tank and onto a transport truck for a cross-country flight to Washington for a new life in a sea pen.

‘Heartbroken’

“I am heartbroken that Toki has left us,” Irsay said in a statement. “I was honored to be part of the team working to return her to her indigenous home, and I take solace in knowing we significantly improved her living conditions this past year.”

READ MORE: Thousands mourn Lolita on social media

The relocation plan was mostly aspirational, since the Irsay group hadn’t secured the federal permits or water rights needed to create a sea pen for the 7,000-pound mammal. But it was the most definitive effort yet to move Lolita from a tank that had been flagged by federal animal inspectors and local authorities as needing a major overhaul to continue housing Lolita.

While the Seaquarium continues holding dolphin performances, the Lolita shows ended in 2021 as the condition of the tank drew scrutiny from the United States Department of Agriculture and Miami-Dade’s Unsafe Structures division. When the Dolphin Company purchased the Seaquarium operations in 2022, including the site lease for the county-owned waterfront that houses the park, it announced Lolita would never return to public performing.

Animal-rights activists condemned the Seaquarium over the years for confining the orca in a tank small enough that it took just seconds to swim from end to end.

“Kind people begged the Miami Seaquarium to end Lolita’s hellish life in a concrete cell and release her to a seaside sanctuary, where she could dive deep, feel the ocean’s currents, and even be reunited with the orca believed to be her mother,” PETA, an anti-captivity group, said in a statement. “But plans to move her to a seaside sanctuary came too late.”

The relocation plan had critics, too.. Some former trainers of Lolita formed Truth4Toki and urged the Seaquarium to either keep the orca in place or move her to a more modernized tank at Sea World in Orlando. After past battles with illness, the group said Lolita “is not a candidate for release.”

READ MORE: Lolita had chronic health problems

Tom Reidarson, a former SeaWorld veterinarian hired by Friends of Toki to work with her in Miami, said in a recent interview that he was concerned Lolita would die last fall after a serious bout with pneumonia.

“It became pretty dire,” he told the Miami Herald on July 8.. Though she remained on antibiotics, Reidarson said the orca’s lung problems appeared to have resolved well. “She’s actually really healthy right now,” he said.

In its statement, the Seaquarium described liver issues with Lolita, who was believed to be four when captured in Puget Sound and roughly 57 in 2023.

“Over the last two days, Toki started exhibiting serious signs of discomfort,” the Seaquarium said on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “Despite receiving the best possible medical care, she passed away Friday afternoon from what’s believed to be a renal condition.”

Miami-Dade’s mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, advocated for moving Lolita as part of the county’s talks with the Dolphin Company taking over the lease. The company signed an agreement to move the orca once there was a safe and healthy option for her to leave the Seaquarium.

“Our collective wish was to see Toki in her native waters and we are heartbroken to learn of this sudden loss,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “Alongside the many Miamians who grew up visiting her, the generations of activists around the world that were inspired by her story, and the caretakers who remained dedicated to her health until the very end — today we say our final goodbye to our beloved Toki.”

This story was originally published August 18, 2023 at 5:42 PM.