Saving the Southern Resident orcas - the family of Toki/Tokitae/Lolita/Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut
An Open Letter to Jim Irsay and the Friends of Toki
Dear Friends of Toki,
Both the formal members of the group formed to send this orca matriarch home to the Salish Sea from her tank in the Miami Seaquarium and the friends around the world still grieving the shocking death of the whale known as Toki, Tokitae, Lolita and Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut.
Thank you for shining a spotlight on Toki’s tragic plight and helping people around the world see the importance of not just sending this majestic being home to her family, but raising awareness about that family - the critically endangered southern resident orcas.
The main reason Toki’s family is critically endangered is because they were the first and most brutal casualties in the age of killer whale captures – an era that began when the Vancouver Aquarium harpooned a member of her extended family, Moby Doll, in 1964. Since this is my Substack, I should probably mention that I wrote a book about Moby Doll - The Killer Whale Who Changed the World.
No other orca population paid the same price for the era when humans were regularly catching, selling and displaying the whales we used to call killers. Toki was part of an entire generation of orcas who were torn from their families.
When she was captured in 1970 — just over 53 years ago - almost every other southern resident was trapped in the same nets with her, screaming in terror.
Six other orca children were shipped to marine parks. Based on her size Toki was believed to be four years old when she was taken from her mother’s side. At least four other young orcas died in that capture and were weighted down with stones and anchors and hidden to avoid public backlash.
Killing killer whales – as they were called at the time- was just as legal at the time as capturing them. And before people started selling these orcas for display. they were often shooting them on sight for the crime of eating the same fish humans like – Chinook salmon.
In Canada, our government set up a machine gun off the coast of Vancouver Island to exterminate these “pests.” The gun was never used. But that was luck - or orca magic - not a change of heart or policy.
In 2018, another member of Toki’s clan, Tahlequah shone the global spotlight on the southern residents when she carried her dead daughter’s body for seventeen days as the world watched. Tahlequah’s tour of grief convinced both the Canadian and American governments to halt and alter construction projects, direct hundreds of millions of dollars towards measures to help this population and create multiple new laws that are virtually never really enforced but still…
Toki, Tahlequah - and other orcas in the wild and in captivity - have shown us time and again that orcas are individuals and, at the very least, should be granted the legal status of personhood under our laws.
While Toki was never granted personhood in life you, the Friends of Toki, have the chance to grant her that long-overdue status in death.
When humans die what we own is given to our next of kin to help improve their lives. Ocean Sun, the matriarch of the southern residents, may or may not be Toki’s mother, but she is definitely her kin - as are the other members of the pod Toki never had the chance to grow up with.
Toki’s situation was unique - and uniquely heart-breaking – among captive cetaceans because not only did we know her home waters and her family, but she had a human family - the Lummi nation - who were not just fighting for her return, but committed to caring for her.
The Lummi name for orcas translates roughly as “relatives beneath the sea.” Their name for Toki - Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut - identifies her as a daughter of their people.
Since I’ve started writing about these orcas I’ve discovered that there are things the people who love these whales don’t like to say publicly. It’s only recently that scientists are reporting something that was at least suspected, if not known, for some time. Losing a generation of orcas meant losing genetic diversity because there were fewer large males, which means far too many of these orcas have the same father. That’s our fault. That’s what happens when you lose a generation. And this clan lost almost an entire generation just in that single capture at Penn Cove that landed Toki a continent away from her home.
Since it’s clear that part of your goal was to help our species atone for our sins against Toki’s family, that can still happen. The money, energy and passion you’ve committed to moving and housing Tokitae has the potential to save her family.
So, in lieu of flowers, breach the Snake River Dams.
While there are so many other things that can and should be done to help this population – both in Canada and the US – that appears to be the fastest way to address their most significant problem, a lack of the salmon that make up the majority of their diet. If you want to know how much of a difference that could make, and how quickly, look at the miraculous transformation of the Elwha River, after the dam removal there in 2011.
Support the organizations fighting for the Chinook - the primary food source of the southern residents.
You’ve been working with the Lummi Nation’s Sacred Land Conservancy – SacredSea.org. That shouldn’t stop now.
Support the organizations that will keep the spotlight shining on these amazing beings and make it impossible – or at least very very uncomfortable - for the governments of the US and Canada to permit projects that will harm them.
As Toki’s friends, you still have the chance to save her family, honour her memory and turn her tragic life and death into an inspiring legacy.
