Friends of Toki share progress on efforts to bring Tokitae home [Video]

SEATTLE — A nonprofit working to bring the last surviving Southern Resident orca in captivity back to Washington waters shared progress on the efforts to move her on Thursday.

The Lummi Nation, activists and animal welfare advocates have been fighting for years to bring her back to the Salish Sea.

Friends of Toki, a nonprofit organization, gave an update Thursday on the efforts to bring Tokitae home. The plan to return Tokitae to Washington was developed under the guidance of Charles Vinick and the Whale Sanctuary Project. Here’s how it could work:

First, Tokitae would be coaxed into a custom-made stretcher and lifted out of her aquarium with a crane, into a small container filled with ice water.

From there Tokitae would be placed in a cargo plane for a six-hour flight to …