In life and death, Tokitae the orca sparks a reckoning

In March 2023, a homecoming was announced.

After five decades of captivity at the Miami Seaquarium, Tokitae the orca would be coming home to the Salish Sea.

But the process to bring Toki back was cut short. She died just a few months later, in August. Her passing was a devastating blow to the conservation advocates and fans who had demanded Tokitae’s freedom.

And as Washington Post reporter Caitlin Gibson explored in her story, “The Call of Tokitae,” what followed was a moment of reckoning.

"She also forces us to confront this legacy that we have our relationship with her species," Gibson said. "And to think more deeply about where we go from here and how we relate to these creatures that are just so much more intelligent, sophisticated and evolved than we realized they were at the time that we were pulling them out of the water all those decades ago."

Listen to the full conversation with reporter Caitlin Gibson by clicking the play button at the top of the story. You can also read Caitlin's original story here.