The Plan - Step by Step:

Lolita Campaign Retrospective by Howard Garrett. A look back at the origins and lessons learned in our decades-long efforts to return Lolita/Tokitae/Sk'aliChehl-tenaut to her home waters, and the prospects for success moving forward.

A Puget Sound Orca in Captivity-the Fight to Bring Lolita Home by Sandra Pollard and released in 2019. Sandra chronicles Lolita/Tokitae's life story before, during, and after the traumatic 1970 roundup and capture in Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, and the extraordinary efforts to bring Lolita/Tokitae home. For over 20 years Orca Network has called for her release, and now the indigenous Lummi Nation have joined the fight. Sandra is a certified marine naturalist and continues to advocate for the critically endangered Southern Resident orcas, including Lolita, the sole survivor of the 1970 orca captures in Penn Cove. She is a volunteer with the Orca Network, local education and whale sightings nonprofit and a member of the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Her career spans fiction and non fiction and her previously released "Puget Sound Whales for Sale" has been a popular and important book.

Lummi Nation Proclamation:

The Lummi Nation has joined efforts to bring Tokitae back to the Salish Sea, her family and the ‘place in her heart.’

“The songs she heard from her family are very real to her,” said Douglas James, Jr. “That’s what’s playing in her heart. That’s what’s playing in her dreams. We need to do something. Let’s bring this last one home.”

Whidbey News-Times (August 11, 2017): Lummi Nation: Return Tokitae ‘to the place in her heart’

Proclamation calling for the return of Tokitae passed August 1, 2017 by the Lummi Indian Business Council.

To support the Lummi nation in bringing Tokitae home to her native waters, please go to:
The Tokitae Fund of the Lhaq’temish Foundation.

In conclusion,
3 key points:

1. There is no significant risk to Lolita in any stage of Orca Network's proposal for Lolita's retirement in her native waters.

   a. Transport of orcas according to established protocols must be done professionally and cautiously, but is commonly done and has never resulted in serious health issues for orcas;

   b. Immersion of captive marine mammals in their native waters is considered therapeutic in veterinary literature (“The general rule in maintaining marine mammals in captivity is to duplicate their natural environment as closely as possible.” –The Merck Veterinary Manual);

   c. After her initial immersion Lolita is likely to explore the seapen environs, with heightened energy and gradually improved metabolic strength, as demonstrated by Keiko upon immersion in Icelandic waters;

   d Her ability to catch and eat wild fish is likely to resume in a matter of weeks or months, again as demonstrated by Keiko.

2. A thorough examination will be conducted by a team of veterinarians and pathologists prior to transport to detect any potential communicable diseases. Assuming there are none, there will be no significant risk to any members of the Southern Resident Community as a result of Lolita's return to her native waters.
   Conclusion: there is minimal risk of harm to Lolita or her family involved in returning her to her home waters.

3. Remaining in captivity will likely result in continuing mental and physical stresses and health issues.

   a. Abundant evidence, including scientific publications, indicate that captivity increases mortality rates for orcas;
   b. Due to her loneliness from living without the companionship of another orca for over three decades, and due to her exposure to the midday Miami sun, and the extremely small size of the tank that has been her only environs for over four decades, she is continually suffering as long as she remains in captivity;
   c. Despite Lolita's unlikely good health at about 50 years of age, she is still subject to the adverse effects of captivity on her emotional, mental and physical health.
   Conclusion: Remaining in captivity is likely to lead to real harm to Lolita, and given her relatively good health she is an excellent candidate for return to her native waters for retirement under human care in a seapen, and potentially for eventual full release.