On Thursday, 7 September 2023, I posted three cryptic messages on the ThemedReality Facebook page:

Some people took this to mean that Li’i, the Pacific white-sided dolphin and only remaining occupant of Miami Seaquarium’s Whale Bowl, had died. Others took it to mean he had moved to SeaWorld San Antonio. Someone mentioned something about the Mother Ship arriving to take him home.

Am I bad person for how I presented this material? Absolutely. I was attempting to be mischievous in my approach and I ended up being cruel. I’m responsible for my actions and I apologize to those I put in distress. I hope others are picking up on this. If you do something wrong or bad, including neglecting an animal, it’s ok to accept responsibility.

So what do these posts mean?

Today, moving on up….

Listen….

An announcement was supposed to be made about Li’i’s move by Thursday. That announcement did not take place. Although public sentiment was to have him moved to Shedd or a cold-water sanctuary (though none exist in North America, despite millions of dollars having been raised over the past six to eight years), SeaWorld San Antonio appeared to be the most likely location. I will explain shortly.

Fly away little one.

Farewell….

Another reference to relocation, this one referencing air transport.

“Let’s be empty, and if one day I fill myself with deep blue, how would that be?” – “Charles” by balloon (2016)

A lyric by Japanese band balloon from their song “Charles.” Ironically, the song has the same name as the Friends of Toki board member overseeing the care of Toki and Li’i. “Let’s be empty” parallels the concept of emptying and bulldozing the tank once Li’i is removed, while “deep blue” is a SeaWorld term, previously used for “Deep Blue Project,” the expansion of the chain’s killer whale habitats and “Deep Blue Creative,” the company’s now defunct internal attraction and experience design studio.

The image also featured planes – another reference to aerial transport and a hurricane, which referred to Hurricane Lee, which at the time was forecasted with a 5-10% chance of heading as a Force 3 or higher storm towards Miami.

These posts had nothing to do with death or transport, but rather with this Instagram conversation between Petrus Konya-Venter and Eduardo Albor, CEO of The Dolphin Company, which Konya-Venter shared publicly online. Before posting, I checked with a contact at Controladora Dolphin (which roughly translates into English as “Dolphin Controller,” and which operates under the name The Dolphin Company), who told me that he/she/they (don’t know the select pronouns of my contact and I’m not going to share his/her/their gender) did not have any reason to doubt that the message, sent on Labor Day, 4 September 2023, came from Albor.

So what’s the deal with Li’i and why is he still in that tank?

There are a number of factors at play.

First, there are no tanks available at the Miami Seaquarium for Li’i to be moved to. He can’t move to the Pompanos, because those pools are also in need of repair. He can’t be moved in with the bottlenose or the manatees.

Second, if it were possible for Li’i were moved out of the Whale Bowl and into one of the other tanks, he would be considered “on exhibit” and the entire USDA license for the Seaquarium would be voided. The Seaquarium would need to apply for a new license and new inspections would take place.

Former USDA official Elizabeth Goldentyer is currently under investigation for a number of controversial actions. One such action, which may or may not be included in the Federal investigations, involves piggybacking the Seaquarium in 2014 onto Palace Entertainment’s existing license for Story Land park, a children’s theme park in New Hampshire that, at the time, had a license established for a single animal – a rabbit. Had Palace applied for an independent license for the Seaquarium, it would have required a pre-license inspection of the Miami park.

It was a pre-license inspection for The Dolphin Company on 1 February 2022 that found numerous issues with leaks and deteriorating concrete in the Whale Bowl tank (concrete granules and chips in the tank may not imply structural degradation of the tank itself, but it poses a health risk if ingested by animals). The 1 February report also, for the first time, stated that the pool did not meet the minimum Federal size requirements for an adult female killer whale. The Dolphin Company was given two additional inspections, or a maximum of 60 days (expiring on 4 April) to make the fixes. Instead, a back room deal was made between the company and Goldentyer, with an agreement that if the killer whale and the white-sided dolphin in the Whale Bowl were not placed on public exhibition, the tank would not be included in the USDA license. The 1 February report was never published for the public to see. Instead, we were shown the 22 February pre-inspection report, which did not include the Whale Bowl and paved the way for approval of the license.

Goldentyer stepped down from USDA in April 2023. It’s doubtful that her successors will be as lenient with their decisions on the Seaquarium considering the ongoing investigations into Goldentyer’s actions.

For over a year, The Dolphin Company management attempted to get permission from NOAA to move the female white-sided dolphin Loke back into the Whale Bowl, citing urgent needs to repair the Pompanos pools. Again, these requests were made multiple times by different members of management, for over a year, claiming the poor condition of the Pompanos, and the need to fix them. All this time, Loke and her calf Elelo were kept in these tanks in a state of disrepair, with Elelo awaiting move to Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium on a BLA (breeding loan agreement). Moving Loke in with Li’i would fit the narrative being sold by Friends of Toki that the killer whale Tokitae would be moving to a sea pen in Washington’s Salish Sea with her TWO dolphin companions.

But NOAA stood its ground and expressed its concerns with Loke moving into the Whale Bowl. An important factor expressed by NOAA was that moving Loke into the unlicensed Whale Bowl would result in her losing her protections under the Animal Welfare Act. This would conflict with her protections under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, something the agency had been grappling with already with Li’i.

So Loke and Elelo were sent to Shedd. My understanding is that Loke was also sent under a BLA. There has been public sentiment to send Li’i to Shedd to “be with his family.” This is a misconception, and may be tied to the fact that Seaquarium management, in FOIA documents we released, referred to Loke and Li’i as a “bonded parent pair.” There is a problem with this statement in that Pacific white-sided dolphins, in their natural social orders, are sexually polygynous. If Loke is on a BLA, then having Li’i there will just complicate things, as a breeding loan agreement is designed to result in genetic variability.

The other possibility is SeaWorld San Antonio, which I know had been in discussions with The Dolphin Company to take Li’i.

But none of my personal contacts at SeaWorld are aware of anything taking place or planned and Frankie, the churro vendor at the Miami Seaquarium (not his/her/their actual name nor position), has not seen any SeaWorld trainers there to work with Li’i in preparation for a move. Of course, the AZA conference begins today, so it will be likely a week before a move takes place. And the hurricane is no longer predicted to hit Miami, so no rush.

So Li’i is still in the tank, alone, but alive. And we’re seeing something being staged at the Whale Bowl and someone has now shown up in country whose presence alone makes me raise an eyebrow.

And still no announcement from The Dolphin Company.

More to come……..