Keiko (orca)
| Keiko | |
|---|---|
 Keiko on December 1, 1998 |
|
| Species | Orcinus orca |
| Sex | Male |
| Born | c. 1976 Near Iceland |
| Died | December 12, 2003 Taknes Fjord, Norway |
| Relative age | 27 years |
| Notable role | Willy in Free Willy |
| Weight | 6 tons (12,000 pounds) |
| Website | |
| http://www.keiko.com/ | |
Keiko (c. 1976 – December 12, 2003) was a male orca / actor who starred in the first Free Willy film and was perhaps the most famous of captive orcas.
Contents |
[edit] History
Keiko, whose name means "lucky one" in the Japanese language,[1] [2] 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 the movie Free Willy in 1993.
The publicity from his role in Free Willy led to an effort by Warner Brothers Studio to find him a better home. Donations from the studio and Craig McCaw led to the establishment of the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation See at [2] in February 1995. With donations from the foundation and millions of school children, 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. UPS provided ground transportation to the nearby Newport Municipal Airport in a specialized container. Weighing 3500 kg (7720 pounds), he was transported by air in a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III to his new home on January 7, 1996. During his years in Oregon his weight increased over a ton.[3]
The plan to return him to the wild was a topic of much controversy. Some felt his years of captivity made such a return impossible. Researchers in a scientific study later said attempts to return him to the wild were misguided.[4][5] The Norwegian pro-whaling politician Steinar Bastesen made international news for his statement that Keiko should instead be killed and the meat sent to Africa as foreign aid.[6] Nevertheless, the process of preparing Keiko for the wild began on September 9 , 1998, when he was flown to Klettsvik Bay on the island of Heimaey in Vestmannaeyjar in Iceland. Upon landing, the C-17 Globemaster aircraft suffered a landing gear failure causing over $1 million in damage, though Keiko was unharmed.[7][8] His day-to-day care became the responsibility of the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation with management assistance from the Ocean Futures Society. He underwent training designed to prepare him for his eventual release, including supervised swims in the open ocean.
Ocean Futures left the Keiko project in late 2001. The Free Willy-Keiko Foundation (http://www.keiko.com) and the The Humane Society of the United States re-established management of the project at that time until Keiko's death in 2003. A new award winning film titled Keiko The Untold Story (http://www.keikotheuntoldstory.com) was made available to the public in 2011 and covers Keiko's full story including these undocumented years. Those appearing in the film include expert cast members Mark Berman, Assitant Director of the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation in San Francisco; Naomi Rose, Senior Scientist at the Humane Society International in Washington D.C.; Paul Spong, Founder of OrcaLab in British Columbia; Colin Baird, Director of Field Team for the Keiko Project in Iceland and Norway (He also trained the orca Tilikum for a 10 year period before signing on with the Keiko Project; and Thorbjorg (Tobba) Valdis Kristjansdottir, Field Team in Iceland and Norway.
[edit] Death
Keiko died after beaching himself in Taknes Bay, Norway while under the care of personnel from The Free Willy-Keiko Foundation on December 12, 2003, at about 27 years of age. See at http://www.keiko.com and at http://www.keikotheuntoldstory.com Pneumonia was later determined as his probable cause of death. 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, during which Thomas Chatterton, a veterinary chaplain said, "Keiko was not one of our kind but nonetheless, was still one of us."[9]
There is a memorial site for Keiko set up by the locals in Halsa, Norway. Norwegian school children built a stone cairn to mark the spot where he is buried.
[edit] Filmography
- Keiko en peligro (1990)...Keiko
- Free Willy (1993)...Willy
- Free Willy 2 (1995)... Willy (Credited, though an animatronic whale was used for the majority of the scenes)
- Free Willy 3 (1997)... Willy (Credited, though an animatronic whale was used for most if not all the scenes)
- Keiko The Untold Story (2011) [3]
Jean Michel Cousteau and his organization left the Keiko project in late 2001. The Free Willy-Keiko Foundation (http://www.keiko.com) and the The Humane Society of the United States re-established management of the project at that time until Keiko's death in 2003. A new award winning film titled Keiko The Untold Story (http://www.keikotheuntoldstory.com) was made available to the public in 2011 and covers Keiko's full story including these undocumented years. Those appearing in the film include expert cast members Mark Berman, Assistant Director of the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation in San Francisco; Naomi Rose, Senior Scientist at the Humane Society International in Washington D.C.; Paul Spong, Founder of OrcaLab in British Columbia; Colin Baird, Director of Field Team for the Keiko Project in Iceland and Norway (He also trained the orca Tilikum for a 10 year period before signing on with the Keiko Project; and Thorbjorg (Tobba) Valdis Kristjansdottir, Field Team in Iceland and Norway.
/*Movie*/ Keiko The Untold Story 2011
[edit] References
- ^ Keiko the Whale
- ^ [1] BBC NEWS | Keiko the 'Free Willy' Whale Dies
- ^ Keiko.com: Keiko's Story: The Timeline
- ^ M. Simon, M. B. Hanson, L. Murrey, J. Tougaard,& F. Ugarte (2009). "An attempt to release Keiko the killer whale". Marine Mammal Science 25 (3): 693–705. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2009.00287.x.
- ^ Why freeing Willy was the wrong thing to do, Catherine Brahic, New Scientist, 28 April 2009
- ^ Michael McCarthy (15 September 1998). "`Turn Keiko into meatballs'". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/turn-keiko-into-meatballs-1198214.html.
- ^ C-17A S/N 96-0006
- ^ "C-17 Accident During Whale Lift Due To Design Flaw"
- ^ Oregonians bid farewell to Keiko, popular killer whale:Associated Press
