In Memory

 

Keiko

(Free Willy)

1977 - December 13, 2003

 

 

 

Keiko, Star of 'Free Willy' Movies, Dies n Norway
Saturday December 13, 2003 12:40pm

 

Oslo, Norway (AP) - Keiko, who gained fame starring in the "Free Willy" movies, has died in a Norwegian bay that he made his home after a 10-year campaign failed to coax him back to the open seas.

The whale, which was about 26-years-old, died Friday after suddenly contracting pneumonia in the Taknes fjord in Norway.

Caretaker Dane Richards told The Associated Press that the illness struck the 25-foot mammal fairly quickly as Keiko appeared lethargic and lost his appetite.

"We checked his respiration rate and it was a little irregular ... he wasn't doing too well," Richards said. "Early in the evening, he passed away."

In the wild, orcas can live an average of 35 years. Keiko was believed born in 1977 or 1978 off Iceland.

The drive to free Keiko, who was captured near Iceland in 1979 and sold to the marine park industry, began in 1993 after he was found ailing in a Mexico City aquarium. He was rehabilitated at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, then airlifted to Iceland in 1998.

His handlers prepared him for the wild, teaching him to catch live fish in an operation that cost about $500,000 a month. That same amount paid for a year of care in Norway, according to the Free Willy Foundation in San Francisco.

Keiko, which means "Lucky One" in Japanese, was released from Iceland in July 2002 with hopes that he would return to the wild. But he swam straight for Norway on a 870-mile trek that seemed to be a search for human companionship.

The 6 ton whale delighted Norwegians when he first turned up near the village of Halsa in late August or early September of 2002. He allowed fans to pet and play with him, even crawl on his back, becoming such an attraction that animal protection authorities imposed a ban on approaching him.

But his choice of Norway, the only country that hunts whales for profit, was a shock to many fans, who feared that whalers would go after him. Orcas are protected in Norway, which only hunts minke whales, and authorities assured the world he was safe.

Lars Olav Lilleboe, of the township of Halsa, said it was a sad day for the town of 1,750 people, a mix of rolling farmland and small mountains, some 250 miles northwest of the capital, Oslo.

"He is one of the biggest things to ever happen to Halsa," said Lilleboe. "There is no doubt that he has been a tourist attraction."

Nick Braden, a spokesman of the Humane Society of the United States, said veterinarians gave Keiko antibiotics after he showed signs of lethargy, but it wasn't apparent how sick he was.

"They really do die quickly and there was nothing we could do," he said.

Braden said "it's a really sad moment for us, but we do believe we gave him a chance to be in the wild."

David Phillips, executive director of the San Francisco-based Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, said Keiko's plight changed public perception of whether a whale could be returned to the wild.

"We took the hardest candidate and took him from near death in Mexico to swimming with wild whales in Norway," he said. "Keiko proved a lot of naysayers wrong and that this can work and that is a very powerful thing."

Back in Oregon, where he had spent 32-months at the Coast Aquarium, more than 2.5 million people visited him.

Mark Collson, an aquarium board member, said Keiko had a way with people.

"I once I had a friend describe him as a 4,000-pound golden retriever," Collson said. "He was like the family dog; he wanted to be next to you."

In the end, Phillips said, Keiko's lure is likely to prove beneficial because "there was something about Keiko that wherever he went - Mexico, Oregon, Iceland - he captured the world's attention."

Phillips said that caretakers would have to make burial arrangements with Norway's government.

"My preference would be to bury him on land ... If you bury him on land we could still recover his skeleton and that might have some value in a museum or something, but that is still being worked out," he said.

Meanwhile, Keiko's remains were covered with a tarp in the water of Taknes Bay, a clear, calm pocket of coastal water deep enough that it doesn't freeze in winter. Keepers had fed him there, but he was free to roam, and often did at night.

He was equipped with a VHF tracking device that let his four handlers pinpoint his location provided he stayed within a range of about five miles.

Keiko's stardom came from the three "Free Willy" films, in which a young boy befriends a captive killer whale and persuades him to jump over a sea park wall to freedom.

In November, Keiko was led to his new home at Taknes Bay, still in Halsa but - handlers hoped - farther from the crowds.

 

Willy is Free

 

KEIKO'S STORY: THE TIMELINE

This is the story of how a two-year-old orca whale began an amazing journey that has spanned five countries and tens of thousands of miles.



1977 or 1978:
Keiko is born in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland.

1979:
Keiko is captured by a fishing boat, separated from his family, and held in an Icelandic aquarium.

1982:
Marineland in Ontario, Canada buys Keiko, where he becomes a performing animal.

1985:
Marineland sells Keiko to Reino Aventura, an amusement park in Mexico City, for $350,000.

1992:
Warner Bros. Studios begins filming the movie "Free Willy" on location in Mexico City. The plot involves a young boy saving a whale, portrayed by Keiko.

1993:
Free Willy is a surprise hit at the theaters, especially with millions of school children around the world. That support, along with media coverage detailing Keiko's unacceptable living conditions in Mexico City, prompts the movie studio, the park, and animal protection advocates to find Keiko a new home. Dr. Lanny Cornell comes on board as Keiko's lead veterinarian.

1994:
Earth Island Institute, an environmental advocacy group for marine wildlife, begins the search for a location where Keiko can be brought back to health and trained for potential release to the wild. The Free Willy Foundation is formed in November with a $4 million donation from Warner Bros., and an anonymous donor.

1995:
The Mexico City amusement park donates Keiko to the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation. The foundation announces Keiko will be moved to a new, $7.3 million rehabilitation facility at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Craig McCaw is revealed as the anonymous donors of $2 million, which helped start the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation. The Humane Society of the United States also becomes a sponsor.

1996:
United Parcel Service sponsors the airlifting of Keiko to the aquarium on January 7. Weighing just 7,720 pounds, Keiko is placed in his new pool and experiences natural sea water for the first time in 14 years. Keiko gains more than 1,000 pounds, and by year's end his skin lesions begin to heal. Keiko is featured on the cover of Life Magazine and in a popular documentary, The Free Willy Story, on the Discovery Channel. More than 2 million visitors come to see Keiko in Oregon.

1997:
Keiko's staff begins introducing him to live fish in an effort to teach him to hunt for food. His skin lesions have all disappeared and he is determined to be in excellent health. He catches and eats his first live fish in August. By June, Keiko weighs 9,620 pounds. The staff of the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation sets a goal of releasing Keiko into a pen in the North Atlantic by 1998. After an intensive search and negotiations with foreign governments the decision is made to reintroduce Keiko to the wild in Iceland.

1998:
A medical panel determines that Keiko is healthy and exhibiting the normal behavior patterns of a killer whale. Keiko is eating live steelhead weighing from three to 12 pounds each, comprising up to half of his daily intake of food. On September 9, Keiko is lifted from his tank and transported by a US Airforce C-17 transport jet from Newport directly to Klettsvik Bay in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland.

1999:
During his first full year back in his native Icelandic waters, Keiko, now under the day-to-day care of the Ocean Futures Society, continues training to prepare him for his potential reintroduction to the wild. An essential component of his program is moving his attention from above to below the surface of the water. In doing so, Keiko depends less on his human caretakers and develops greater interest in his natural environment.

2000:
Keiko is fitted for a tracking device that will allow staff to take him out to the open ocean. Keiko makes amazing progress during his sea "walks," even beginning to interact with wild orcas in the vicinity of his sea pen. His health and stamina improves as he comes closer to returning to his wild ways.

2001:
Early in the year, Keiko exhibits behaviors consistent with wild whales-competing with other animals for food. Keiko begins initiating contact with wild orcas in the vicinity and spends several days away from his human companions. The primary challenge ahead is for Keiko to begin maintaining himself on wild fish and regularly associating with wild orcas.

2002:
On his first day out of the netted bay pen in the summer of 2002, Keiko leaves the tracking boat and begins spending considerable time in the company of whales. He is monitored in and around groups of wild whales for the next three weeks. He then begins an epic journey covering nearly 1000 miles across the North Atlantic, by the Faeroe Islands, and to the coast of Norway.
The first observations of Keiko in Norway document that he is in excellent physical condition. Keiko has been on his own for close to 60 days without food from humans. His lead veterinarian, and a variety of other orca scientists, come to the conclusion that Keiko has successfully fed himself in the wild, a major milestone in his journey to the wild.

Keiko follows a fishing boat inside a Norwegian fjord in the Halsa Community. He is an instant hit there with people coming from throughout Europe. Thousands of visitors come to see the friendly whale. The Project staff work closely with the Norwegian government to put in place regulations to keep people from swimming with, feeding, or getting too close to Keiko.

Meanwhile, the Craig McCaw Foundation and Ocean Futures Society turn over the management of the project to the Free Willy Keiko Foundation and the Humane Society of the U.S.

In December Keiko is walked to the Taknes bay staff continue to work with and feed Keiko. For the first time ever, Keiko is in an area where he can come and go as he chooses. The Free Willy Keiko Foundation and the Humane Society of the US continue to care for Keiko while allowing his historic journey to the wild to move ahead.

The Norwegian government gives its full support to the continued effort to give Keiko the chance to return to the wild.

Pictures of Keiko

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