A Split Tale

52 years ago today, an orca calf was taken from her mother in a horrifying, brutal roundup of about 100 orcas in Puget Sound.  Tokitae was the only calf stolen that day who would survive the sentence of entertainer at a marine park, though confined in the smallest whale tank in the nation at Miami's Seaquarium. Despite decades of ardent activism by thousands, and the collaborative plan of the Lummi Nation, Orca Network, and others to repatriate her to home waters, Tokitae is still there in the hot Miami sun, turning tiny circles in her tiny tank, listening to loudspeakers blare all day, doing tricks for dead fish. Doing nothing that wild orcas do.  

Somehow, I grew up not knowing of Tokitae's plight. In 2019, when I first heard of 24-year-old Rachael Andersen's connection with the orca, and of her own traumatic beginning, I was deeply touched. But when I discovered the truth of Rachael's and Tokitae's beautiful, suffering selves, the parallels between them broke my heart. Each truly has, in the other, a soul sister--and each truly has, in her mother, a fierce, abiding love.  I'm so grateful to Rachael and her mother, Suzanne, for allowing me in on their journey. May it end with Tokitae flashing her flukes from the depths of the Salish Sea.

Until then, for Rachael's sake, I hope you'll read and share their story, "A Split Tale."