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Keiko (orca)
Keiko (c. 1976 – 12 December 2003) was a male orca captured in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland in 1979, and widely known for his portrayal of Willy in the 1993 film Free Willy. In 1996, Warner Bros. and the International Marine Mammal Project collaborated to return Keiko to the wild. After years of being prepared for reintegration, Keiko was flown to Iceland in 1998 and in 2002, became the first captive orca to be fully released back into the ocean. On 12 December 2003, he died of pneumonia in a bay in Norway at the age of 27.
Keiko was captured near Djúpivogur, Iceland in 1979 at the approximate age of two and sold to the Icelandic Aquarium in Hafnarfjörður. At the time, he was named Siggi, with the name Kago given at a later date.
In 1982, he was transferred to Marineland in Ontario, Canada. It was at this new facility he first started performing for the public. He developed skin lesions indicative of poor health, and was also bullied by an older orca. Keiko was then sold to Reino Aventura, an amusement park in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1985. Keiko lived in a warm, chlorinated tank with artificial salt water. These conditions were more suited for dolphins, and due to this, his health continued to decline.
At Reino Aventura, he was renamed "Keiko", a feminine Japanese name that means "lucky one". The owners of the park did not want to continue using the name "Kago" due to it being pronounced identically to a Mexican slang term for defecation. "Keiko" was chosen for its similarity to his former name. At the time of his arrival in Mexico, he was only 10 feet (3.0 m) long.
Keiko appeared in the film Free Willy in 1993. The publicity from his role led to an effort by Warner Brothers to find a better home for the orca. The pool for the now 21-foot-long (6.4 m) orca was only 22 feet (6.7 m) deep, 65 feet (20 m) wide and 114 feet (35 m) long. He was housed with bottlenose dolphins, but no others of his own species. Keiko was underweight for his size, and the water temperature was often too warm, which contributed to various skin problems. Due to a papillomavirus infection, Keiko experienced skin outbreaks, first observed while he was housed in Ontario, Canada, prior to his transfer to Mexico City, which complicated both his candidacy for relocation and for eventual release into the wild.
The end credits of Free Willy included a phone number for whale preservation that received hundreds of thousands of call-ins, beginning the movement to return Keiko to the wild. Warner Brothers and Craig McCaw approached the International Marine Mammal Project for help. The IMMP established 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 was given over $7 million to construct facilities to return him to health with the hope of eventually returning him to the wild. Reino Aventura donated Keiko to the Foundation. Before he left the amusement park in Mexico City, Keiko performed for the public for the last time, and was seen off by thousands of children, with more onlookers watching his overnight journey to the Mexico City International Airport. At the time he weighed about 7,700 pounds (3493 kg). A Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo plane donated by United Parcel Service (UPS) hauled Keiko to Newport, Oregon on 8 January 1996.
On arrival at Oregon Coast Aquarium, Keiko was housed in a new (2,000,000 US gallons (7,600,000 L)) concrete enclosure containing seawater. His weight had increased significantly by June 1997, to 9,620 pounds (4364 kg).
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 unsuccessful, but that monitoring him with radio and satellite tags was part of "a contingency plan for return to human care," which secured "the long-term well-being of the animal." Others considered his release misguided. 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.
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Keiko (orca) AI simulator
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Keiko (orca)
Keiko (c. 1976 – 12 December 2003) was a male orca captured in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland in 1979, and widely known for his portrayal of Willy in the 1993 film Free Willy. In 1996, Warner Bros. and the International Marine Mammal Project collaborated to return Keiko to the wild. After years of being prepared for reintegration, Keiko was flown to Iceland in 1998 and in 2002, became the first captive orca to be fully released back into the ocean. On 12 December 2003, he died of pneumonia in a bay in Norway at the age of 27.
Keiko was captured near Djúpivogur, Iceland in 1979 at the approximate age of two and sold to the Icelandic Aquarium in Hafnarfjörður. At the time, he was named Siggi, with the name Kago given at a later date.
In 1982, he was transferred to Marineland in Ontario, Canada. It was at this new facility he first started performing for the public. He developed skin lesions indicative of poor health, and was also bullied by an older orca. Keiko was then sold to Reino Aventura, an amusement park in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1985. Keiko lived in a warm, chlorinated tank with artificial salt water. These conditions were more suited for dolphins, and due to this, his health continued to decline.
At Reino Aventura, he was renamed "Keiko", a feminine Japanese name that means "lucky one". The owners of the park did not want to continue using the name "Kago" due to it being pronounced identically to a Mexican slang term for defecation. "Keiko" was chosen for its similarity to his former name. At the time of his arrival in Mexico, he was only 10 feet (3.0 m) long.
Keiko appeared in the film Free Willy in 1993. The publicity from his role led to an effort by Warner Brothers to find a better home for the orca. The pool for the now 21-foot-long (6.4 m) orca was only 22 feet (6.7 m) deep, 65 feet (20 m) wide and 114 feet (35 m) long. He was housed with bottlenose dolphins, but no others of his own species. Keiko was underweight for his size, and the water temperature was often too warm, which contributed to various skin problems. Due to a papillomavirus infection, Keiko experienced skin outbreaks, first observed while he was housed in Ontario, Canada, prior to his transfer to Mexico City, which complicated both his candidacy for relocation and for eventual release into the wild.
The end credits of Free Willy included a phone number for whale preservation that received hundreds of thousands of call-ins, beginning the movement to return Keiko to the wild. Warner Brothers and Craig McCaw approached the International Marine Mammal Project for help. The IMMP established 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 was given over $7 million to construct facilities to return him to health with the hope of eventually returning him to the wild. Reino Aventura donated Keiko to the Foundation. Before he left the amusement park in Mexico City, Keiko performed for the public for the last time, and was seen off by thousands of children, with more onlookers watching his overnight journey to the Mexico City International Airport. At the time he weighed about 7,700 pounds (3493 kg). A Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo plane donated by United Parcel Service (UPS) hauled Keiko to Newport, Oregon on 8 January 1996.
On arrival at Oregon Coast Aquarium, Keiko was housed in a new (2,000,000 US gallons (7,600,000 L)) concrete enclosure containing seawater. His weight had increased significantly by June 1997, to 9,620 pounds (4364 kg).
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 unsuccessful, but that monitoring him with radio and satellite tags was part of "a contingency plan for return to human care," which secured "the long-term well-being of the animal." Others considered his release misguided. 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.