Keiko (orca)

Infobox Animal
name = Keiko


caption =
species = "Orcinus orca"
gender = Male
birthdate = 1977
birthplace = Iceland
deathdate = December 12, 2003
deathplace = Taknes Fjord, Norway
relativeage = 27 years
occupation = Actor
employer =
role = Willy in "Free Willy"
yearsactive =
owner =
weight =
website = http://www.keiko.com/

Keiko (1977 - December 12, 2003) was an orca (or killer whale) who starred in the first of three Free Willy movies. Keiko, the orca, died on December 12th 2003 from pneumonia in the Taknes Fjord.

Life

Keiko was captured near Iceland in 1979 and sold to the Icelandic aquarium in Hafnarfjörður. Three years later, he was sold to Marineland in Ontario, where he first started performing for the public and developed skin lesions indicative of poor health. He was then sold to Reino Aventura (now named Six Flags Mexico), an amusement park in Mexico City, in 1985. He was the star of Keiko En Peligro, which has him as a sick alien who must be helped to return to his home planet, in 1989. The movie was parodied by South Park in the episode Free Willzyx in 2005.

The publicity from his role in "Free Willy" led to an effort by Warner Brothers Studio and schoolchildren around the world to find him a better home. Donations from the studio and Craig McCaw led to the establishment of the Free Willy Keiko Foundation in February 1995. With donations from the foundation and millions of school children, the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon spent over US$7 million to construct facilities to return him to health with the hope of returning him to the wild. He was airlifted by UPS to his new home on January 7 1996, weighing 3500 kg (7720 pounds). During his years in Oregon, he gained over a ton in weight. [ [http://www.keiko.com/history.html Keiko.com: Keiko's Story: The Timeline] ]

The plan to return him to the wild was a topic of much controversy. Some felt his years of domestication made such a return impossible. Nevertheless, the next step in the plan happened on September 9, 1998, when he was flown to Klettsvik Bay in Vestmannaeyjar in Iceland. His day-to-day care became the responsibility of the Ocean Futures Society. He underwent training designed to prepare him for his eventual release, including supervised swims in the open ocean.

During one of these "walks" his trainers lost track of Keiko in the open ocean off Iceland on July 11, 2002. Unable to locate him with the satellite tracking device attached to his dorsal fin, Keiko was finally spotted 870 miles away off the coast of Norway . In September, he followed a fishing boat to Halsa in Norway where he allowed fans to play with him and crawl over his back. Local marine biologists found him hungry and having lost weight during his ordeal in the North Atlantic. Several days later his handlers arrived and soon thereafter enticed him to nearby Taknes Bay, hoping to discourage his interaction with humans. They hoped a passing pod of orcas would "adopt" Keiko and lead him back to the open ocean. The pod of orcas never appeared, forcing his trainers to continue to feed and care for Keiko.

Death

Keiko died from pneumonia while in the wild December 13, 2003. He had become lethargic and had a loss of appetite. He had beached himself in the morning and died. He was 27 years of age, very old for a captive orca, but young for a wild one. Following requests from fans of the orca and "Free Willy", the Oregon Coast Aquarium held a memorial service for him on February 20, 2004. 700 people attended the service, at which the aquarium's veterinary chaplain said, "Keiko was not one of our kind, but nonetheless was still one of us."

There is a memorial site for Keiko set up by the locals in Halsa, Norway, where the famous whale spent the last year of his life.

Filmography

* Free Willy (1993) .... Willy
* (1995) (uncredited) .... Willy
* (1997) (uncredited) .... Willy

References

External links

*
* [http://www.keiko.com/ The Free Willy Keiko Foundation]