UPDATE 7/12/23: A NEW VIDEO HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE ARCHIVAL VIDEOS SECTION AND A CORRECTED CAPTION HAS BEEN INCLUDED. THANK YOU TO A SPECIAL THEMEDREALITY READER FOR POINTING OUT THE ERROR.
Thanks to video from the Miami-Dade College Wolfson Archives, we are able to get a clear picture of how the Whale Bowl, which has housed killer whale Tokitae (also known by the stage name Lolita) since 1971, without another killer whale since 1980, looked when she first moved in and compare it to its current dilapidated state.
Sept 21, 1970
Male killer whale Hugo is moved from his extremely small tank, which now houses manatees, to the park’s newly constructed Whale and Dolphin Stadium, also known as the Whale Bowl.
Sept 24, 1970
Tokitae arrives at the Miami Seaquarium and is placed in Hugo’s old tank, which, again, now houses manatees.
June 2, 1971
Tokitae is transferred from the Celebrity Pool, now a manatee tank, to the Whale Bowl. A wedding ceremony (denomination unknown) is conducted between Hugo and Tokitae. This is the last time on public record that Tokitae was in a stretcher.
Oct 25, 1972
Water is lowered so that psychic Marlowe Gray could meet with the whales and feel their vibes. He determined that the whales would have a baby the following year. He was a bit off. Speaking on camera is Seaquarium veterinarian Carl Chapman.
February 1, 2022
The Whale Bowl is inspected by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). In addition to finding the Whale Bowl not meeting Animal Welfare Act standards for housing a killer whale, the inspection finds severe damage to the tank. Incoming owners The Dolphin Company are given until April 4, 2022 to complete repairs and modify the dimensions of the tank. During a second inspection on March 22, 2022, The Dolphin Company notifies USDA that Tokitae and an accompanying Pacific white-sided dolphin will not be on display. The Whale Bowl is not included in the second inspection and The Dolphin Company is cleared for an exhibition license, excluding the Whale Bowl and the animals within. For the first time, Tokitate loses federal protections under the Animal Welfare Act.
The February 1 report, shared below, is never made publicly available by the USDA. We acquired it as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with another federal agency.
February 8, 2022
Charles Vinick, Executive Director of the Whale Sanctuary Project, writes NOAA, requesting that Tokitae be removed from the Whale Bowl so necessary repairs can be conducted. Fifteen days later, Friends of Toki is incorporated in Florida, with Vinick as co-founder. By Summer, the group will be in charge of Tokitae’s care.
As with the Feb 1 USDA inspection report, this letter has never been publicly disclosed by the Whale Sanctuary Project and was included with FOIA documents from NOAA.
October 2022
For the first time since 2011, water is lowered in the whale bowl for medical procedures. In these photos, from an anonymous source and presented here for educational purposes only, the current condition of the tank can be seen, including chipped paint and concrete degradation as mentioned in the February 1, 2022 report.
June 25, 2023
Vinick appears on Toki TV and addresses the condition of the Whale Bowl. What he refers to as “zoning for buildings this age” is in actuality a 2021 repair or demolish order for the stadium structure issued by the Miami-Dade County Unsafe Structures Board. One of the violations cited in the case file deems the structure “dangerous to human life and welfare” under the Miami-Dade County and State of Florida building codes.The stadium structure is allowed to stand due to plywood and metal shorings protecting staff as they enter and exit the stadium. As of an April 19, 2023 Unsafe Structures Board hearing, the shorings themselves were deemed not to be up to code. The Miami Seaquarium has until August to fix that issue. More information on the case, along with photos, can be found at https://themedreality.com/2023/05/05/the-whale-bowl/
Toki TV’s broadcasts, including the full June 25 livestream with Charles Vinick, can be accessed on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TokiTV2022/streams
