Orca Tokitae's Autopsy Reveals Official Cause of Death

The mystery of what killed the beloved killer whale Lolita, also known as Tokitae, has been revealed with her post-mortem results.

The orca died on August 18 at her Miami Seaquarium home, aged only 57, with a necropsy (animal autopsy) being performed the very next day to determine the cause of death.

The necropsy results have now revealed that she died as a result of "progression of multiple chronic conditions including renal disease and pneumonia."

"As animals age, degenerative conditions develop. This animal exhibited clinical progression of multiple degenerative changes with a cumulative impact resulting in death," Judy St Leger, a marine mammal veterinarian who conducted the necropsy, wrote in the necropsy results.

"The chronic cardiac valvular disease may have contributed to the lung disease (as is suggested by the presence of "heart failure cells" in the lungs). The ongoing inflammation and immune response sled to kidney disease from both immune protein deposition (amyloidosis) as well as tubular degeneration and mineralization, a typical aging change. The renal disease may have caused the gastritis and pituitary mineralization. Other findings may have been significant but with had [sic] undetermined clinical impact."

Killer whales, especially females, can live up to 90 years in the wild.

Lolita's death came as a shock to her many adoring fans, as only days before her death, she was said to be in excellent health by the CEO of The Dolphin Company.

Richard O'Barry, founder and director of the Dolphin Project, a non-profit dolphin welfare organization, and previous employee of Miami Seaquarium, believes that Lolita's death was likely related to a reduction in her diet. In 2021, Lolita's feed was reduced from 160 pounds to 120, which the aquarium stated was to match Lolita's reduced exercise.

"I think food deprivation played a part in Lolita's death. Several other factors contributed to her downfall," O'Barry told Newsweek. "Seaquarium dolphin and whale trainers have a code of silence. I know that because I was the head trainer at Seaquarium before I walked away in disgust. I've got to convince a few trainers to do the right thing and go public or this extreme abuse is going to happen over and over again and again.

"The lab that did this necropsy is very closely associated with the Georgia Aquarium, the alliance of marine parks and aquariums. Fact is, the dice are loaded. The deck is stacked. The game is rigged. Lolita died from extreme captivity, and that's the truth."

Two of Lolita's former vets have also criticized how the orca's health was managed during her internment at Miami Seaquarium.

"She was old as of years ago, but what meds were given and why underfeed an old whale with kidney issues? There should be a more detailed necropsy report. More organ specific and more cultures," Magdalena Rodriguez, who was chief veterinarian at Seaquarium for 23 years and worked closely with Lolita, told Miami Herald. "The world knew Toki was old, but what took her over the edge?"

Lolita's food reduction caused both Rodriguez and colleague Jenna Wallace to object, worrying that the orca would be dehydrated.

"As I have previously stated multiple times over the last two years, I believe the significant diet cut worsened Toki's pre-existing kidney disease and predisposed her to pneumonia due to dehydration. The fast swimming that was a 'play session' and other recent videos of her activity were likely misinterpreted and were actually agitation," Wallace told Miami Herald.

"Combine her agitated state, underfeeding, stress and fast swims, and gastritis can definitely become an issue." Wallace said she still had a host of questions. "I believe an in-depth look into Toki's death, the medications, the staff, and the veterinarians needs to be conducted."

Wallace and Rodriguez were fired in 2021, and claim that this was a result of them whistleblowing regarding Seaquarium's care of their killer whales. The pair had previously worked with USDA inspectors who had investigated Seaquarium for underfeeding animals as punishment, as well as providing rotten food.

Lolita, who lived at Miami Seaquarium since 1970 after being captured from the southern resident orca community in Puget Sound at 4 years old, had lived without other orcas for company for the past few decades, after her companion Hugo died of a brain aneurysm in 1980. She had been slated to finally return to the waters of the Pacific Northwest, living in a sea pen, but died before this relocation could come to fruition.

There are numerous vocal opposers to orcas being in captivity at all, who argue that these highly intelligent and social animals that naturally roam hundreds of miles cannot ethically be kept in such small and isolated quarters.

"Captivity is harmful for orcas," Jessica Pierce, a professor of bioethics at the University of Colorado Denver, told Newsweek. "Captivity is harmful for all animals, but it is especially hard on animals who have large home ranges, complex social behaviors, and high levels of emotional and cognitive intelligence.

"Some experts have argued, and I tend to agree, that the captive orca environment is, by definition, impoverished and that there is no way to provide orcas in captivity what they need to be healthy and happy. So, no matter how well Miami Seaquarium may care for their orcas, keeping the orcas captive is still harmful and wrong. There is no such thing as ethical captivity for an orca."

"If the U.S. Department of Agriculture had intervened when PETA first flagged her minuscule tank as an animal welfare violation back in 2012, Lolita may have enjoyed more than a decade in a seaside sanctuary," animal-rights group PETA said in a statement on Tuesday.

Lolita's remains were cremated, and her ashes were finally returned to her home waters after her post-mortem, as part of a traditional ceremony conducted by Lummi Nation leaders.

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Update 10/20/23, 8:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Jessica Pierce and Richard O'Barry.