Sudden passing of Tokitae

The sudden passing of Tokitae, “Toki” (Lolita) at the Miami Seaquarium on August 18, 2023 was shocking and devastating. A ceremony will be held soon in Bellingham, Washington by the Lummi Tribe, who played a major role in efforts to repatriate Toki. A goal at Double Bay Sanctuary is to keep the legacy of Toki alive by inspiring and encouraging marine parks to join with a growing movement building sanctuaries and retiring their performing orcas and other cetaceans to these sanctuaries for an improved quality of life in natural ocean settings with continued feeding, wellness, and medical care.

Despite grieving the loss of Toki, Double Bay Sanctuary is resolved more than ever to complete the rebuild of the former fishing lodge to house a care team for Corky in a 15 acre netted enclosure in Double Bay. Last year we reached out to SeaWorld several times requesting a meeting to present a comprehensive proposal for the retirement of Corky to the Sanctuary and offered an all expense paid trip for a SeaWorld team to visit the Sanctuary.  At one point they did request more communications and we immediately sent more detailed information, but never received a response.

In recognition of the United Nations Declarations of Rights of Indigenous People and the principle of free, prior, and informed Indigenous consent, we have started engagement with the ‘Namgis First Nation on our approach to the return of Corky and look forward to the development of a lasting and meaningful relationship with them.

In addition, we are working on more ways for the public to help us in our efforts to retire Corky to the Sanctuary, and scaling the larger sanctuary movement. We will post action items here soon.