After A Long And Storied Life, Keiko Buried In Norway :(
Friday, 19. December 2003, 05:59:55
By Kristian Foden-Vencil
PORTLAND, OR 2003-12-15
(Oregon Considered) - Keiko, the killer whale who stared in the blockbuster movie 'Free Willy,' was buried in a low key ceremony in Norway Monday. He died unexpectedly last Friday, of what his handlers believe was the onset of pneumonia.
His death marks the end of a long and somewhat bizarre chapter in marine biology
Scientists believe Keiko was born in 1977, when blockbusters like Close Encounters and Smokey and the Bandit illuminated the silver screen. At the age of two, he was captured near Iceland and put in a local aquarium.
As he grew, he moved -- and was eventually sold for $350,000 to an amusement park in Mexico City. It was there, in a very small tank filled with water much too warm for a killer whale, that Keiko was chosen to star in the movie 'Free Willy.'
Marine biologist Naomi Rose, of the Humane Society, saw him in Mexico and says Keiko proved to be a real survivor -- one of only two male orcas to have lived more than a quarter of a century in captivity.
Naomi Rose: "You know I'm really sad about this. I knew him personally, just like a lot of folks in Oregon did. And this was unexpected, but in one sense it really wasn't. Because captive killer whales, and for all we know wild killer whales, do tend to die unexpectedly in that they don't tend to show a lot of symptoms of illness before they die."
Indeed, as recently as last Wednesday, Keiko had followed his keepers in Norway out to sea for what they called 'an ocean walk.' He appeared lethargic however and by Thursday he'd stopped eating.
Mark Berman, of the Free Willy Keiko Foundation, says he touched millions.
Mark Berman: "When Free Willy came out, and we started the program 10 years ago, we had people who were 6, 7, 8 years old writing to us. So now those people are in their late teens, and they're still writing to us about Keiko and whales, so it's had a tremendous impact on many people to want to save the whales, dolphins and marine eco-system as a whole."
Keiko's story is linked with the Beaver State in several different ways.
First, the movie was shot in Portland and Astoria. Then, the orca was transported to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport for rehabilitation.
Aquarium spokesman, Hugh Dolly, says the people who worked with Keiko are saddened by the news, but they like to think of what they did to help him.
Hugh Dolly: "When he left on September 9th 1998 he had gained over 1000 lbs, he had grown over 8 inches in length, when he arrived here he had several skin lesions, those were nearly all gone. His muscle tone and stamina where greatly improved. So he was very healthy and we're very happy to have played our role in that."
Indeed, the aquarium's yearly attendance record of two and a half million was reached during Keiko's stay. His tank has since been redesigned to feature a shark exhibit in which visitors walk through a 200 foot plexi-glass tunnel.
Keiko left Newport and Oregon for Iceland where he remained for four years. Eventually he struck out on his own traversing the Atlantic in five weeks.
He disappointed biologists, however, when he ended up in Norway and began interacting with humans.
Indeed, not everyone thinks of the $20 million spent on Keiko, as a success story. But Naomi Rose, of the Oregon Humane Society, disagrees.
Naomi Rose: "I think one of the things we learned, which is the essential 'take-home' message of this project, was that taking a long-term captive killer whale like Keiko, and returning him to his natural habitat, can be done. Every step of the way people were being doom sayers, saying he was going to die now, he's going to die now, and every time he didn't and when he got to Norway, he lived a good year and a few months beyond arriving in Norway as well."
Work is already underway for a concert in Portland to celebrate the unusual orca. Theresa Demarest says she'll be there.
She wrote the song 'Keiko's Dream' after visiting him in Newport while undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
Theresa Demarest: "I was one of the folks that, when I went to go see him, he came directly too me, in front of me, eye to eye and we had this eye contact. And then I turned my head to the left and he turned his head to the left. Then I turned my head to the right and he turned his head to the right. It just blew me out of the water and the whole arena area watching this occur. We were just stunned by it."
No word yet on when that concert might be. Details will be posted on the Free Willy Foundation website.
Source: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/opb/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=580599
PORTLAND, OR 2003-12-15
(Oregon Considered) - Keiko, the killer whale who stared in the blockbuster movie 'Free Willy,' was buried in a low key ceremony in Norway Monday. He died unexpectedly last Friday, of what his handlers believe was the onset of pneumonia.
His death marks the end of a long and somewhat bizarre chapter in marine biology
Scientists believe Keiko was born in 1977, when blockbusters like Close Encounters and Smokey and the Bandit illuminated the silver screen. At the age of two, he was captured near Iceland and put in a local aquarium.
As he grew, he moved -- and was eventually sold for $350,000 to an amusement park in Mexico City. It was there, in a very small tank filled with water much too warm for a killer whale, that Keiko was chosen to star in the movie 'Free Willy.'
Marine biologist Naomi Rose, of the Humane Society, saw him in Mexico and says Keiko proved to be a real survivor -- one of only two male orcas to have lived more than a quarter of a century in captivity.
Naomi Rose: "You know I'm really sad about this. I knew him personally, just like a lot of folks in Oregon did. And this was unexpected, but in one sense it really wasn't. Because captive killer whales, and for all we know wild killer whales, do tend to die unexpectedly in that they don't tend to show a lot of symptoms of illness before they die."
Indeed, as recently as last Wednesday, Keiko had followed his keepers in Norway out to sea for what they called 'an ocean walk.' He appeared lethargic however and by Thursday he'd stopped eating.
Mark Berman, of the Free Willy Keiko Foundation, says he touched millions.
Mark Berman: "When Free Willy came out, and we started the program 10 years ago, we had people who were 6, 7, 8 years old writing to us. So now those people are in their late teens, and they're still writing to us about Keiko and whales, so it's had a tremendous impact on many people to want to save the whales, dolphins and marine eco-system as a whole."
Keiko's story is linked with the Beaver State in several different ways.
First, the movie was shot in Portland and Astoria. Then, the orca was transported to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport for rehabilitation.
Aquarium spokesman, Hugh Dolly, says the people who worked with Keiko are saddened by the news, but they like to think of what they did to help him.
Hugh Dolly: "When he left on September 9th 1998 he had gained over 1000 lbs, he had grown over 8 inches in length, when he arrived here he had several skin lesions, those were nearly all gone. His muscle tone and stamina where greatly improved. So he was very healthy and we're very happy to have played our role in that."
Indeed, the aquarium's yearly attendance record of two and a half million was reached during Keiko's stay. His tank has since been redesigned to feature a shark exhibit in which visitors walk through a 200 foot plexi-glass tunnel.
Keiko left Newport and Oregon for Iceland where he remained for four years. Eventually he struck out on his own traversing the Atlantic in five weeks.
He disappointed biologists, however, when he ended up in Norway and began interacting with humans.
Indeed, not everyone thinks of the $20 million spent on Keiko, as a success story. But Naomi Rose, of the Oregon Humane Society, disagrees.
Naomi Rose: "I think one of the things we learned, which is the essential 'take-home' message of this project, was that taking a long-term captive killer whale like Keiko, and returning him to his natural habitat, can be done. Every step of the way people were being doom sayers, saying he was going to die now, he's going to die now, and every time he didn't and when he got to Norway, he lived a good year and a few months beyond arriving in Norway as well."
Work is already underway for a concert in Portland to celebrate the unusual orca. Theresa Demarest says she'll be there.
She wrote the song 'Keiko's Dream' after visiting him in Newport while undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
Theresa Demarest: "I was one of the folks that, when I went to go see him, he came directly too me, in front of me, eye to eye and we had this eye contact. And then I turned my head to the left and he turned his head to the left. Then I turned my head to the right and he turned his head to the right. It just blew me out of the water and the whole arena area watching this occur. We were just stunned by it."
No word yet on when that concert might be. Details will be posted on the Free Willy Foundation website.
Source: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/opb/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=580599
