Keiko (orca)
Keiko (
circa 1976 –
December 12,
2003) was an
orca (or killer whale) who performed in the first of the three
Free Willy movies.
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, an
amusement park in
Mexico City, in
1985.
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, the
Oregon Coast Aquarium in
Newport, Oregon spent over $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 in January
1996, weighing 3500 kg (7720 pounds). During his years in Oregon, he gained over a
ton in weight.
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.
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Loading Keiko onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport on Sept. 9, 1998 in Newport, Oregon for transport to the Westman Islands in Iceland |
Keiko was released in July
2002. He traveled about 1400 km (870 miles) to the coast of
Norway over a period of several days. In September, he followed a fishing boat to
Halsa in Norway where he allowed fans to play with him and crawl over his back. His handlers soon thereafter enticed him to nearby Taknes Bay, hoping to discourage his interaction with humans.
He died suddenly on
December 12,
2003, of
pneumonia. 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."
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The Free Willy Keiko Foundation
