This year’s ceremony in memory of the 1970 orca roundup in Penn Cove will have a special significance.
The sole survivor might be coming home someday soon. After decades of pressure from advocates, Miami Seaquarium finally agreed to free Lolita. The 57-year-old orca, who was also named Tokitae and most recently, Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, was one of seven young whales netted and delivered to marine parks around the world.
The Lummi Nation is leading an effort to return the orca to a sea pen somewhere in her home waters of the Salish Sea.
Howard Garrett, Orca Network board president, is one of many people who worked for decades to free the whale, which is confined in a 20-foot-deep, dilapidated pool.
“She is remarkably attentive and engaged with everyone around her,” he said in an announcement. “She continues calling out in the unique dialect she learned before capture. Her five veterinarians agree she is in good health and is ready now to be transported back to her native habitat, where she’ll continue healing from the stresses of over five decades of confinement that began with that traumatic capture in Penn Cove.”
Orca Network has been holding an annual ceremony in memory of the tragic event, which killed a dozen orcas. This year’s event begins at 1:30 p.m., Aug. 6 at the Coupeville Wharf. There will be educational displays and information about the orca captures and special guest presentations from Garrett and Sandra Pollard, author of “Puget Sound Whales for Sale” and “A Puget Sound Orca in Captivity.”
Following the program will be a waterside ceremony and remembrance for the orcas killed during the captures.
From 3:30-5:30 p.m., the Cutty Sark and the Suva will provide ceremonial boat trips into Penn Cove to the capture site. Tickets for the boat trips are available for a $75 donation and registration is available on the Orca Network website, orcanetwork.org.
Flowers and cedar sprigs will be provided, or those who attend may bring eco-friendly offerings to toss in the water during the ceremony. Those who own a boat or kayak can join a procession to the capture site.
