SeaScope 37 - Keiko - Learning to be Wild
Keiko the orca is being untrained. That’s right, in preparation for his release to freedom, his trainers are teaching him how to be wild by getting him physically and mentally fit for life at sea.
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'Free Willy' killer whale Keiko is dead
APTN FILE - March 3, 2000
Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland
1. Close up of Keiko with head out of water and trainer at side of tank
2. Various of Keiko jumping in tank
3. Keiko being released into ocean
APTN FILE - January 7, 1997
Newport, Oregon, USA
4. Keiko being watched from aquarium window as he swims underwater
5. Keiko receives fish from trainer after poking his head out of the tank
6. Close up of trainer feeding Keiko fish
7. Keiko jumping for trainer in tank
8. Close up of Keiko's head
APTN FILE - 5 July 1996
Newport, Oregon, USA
9. Close up of Keiko's head against aquarium window
10. Mid shot of Keiko interacting with man watching him from aquarium
STORYLINE:
Keiko, the killer whale star of the Free Willy movies has died, his caretakers in Norway announced early on Saturday morning.
The 10.6-meter-long and six ton whale, which was 27-years-old, died after the sudden onset of pneumonia in the Taknes fjord in Norway. In the wild, orcas can live an average of 35 years.
Richards said Keiko's illness was sudden and although veterinarians had monitored his progress, the whale died quickly.
Keiko, which means Lucky One in Japanese, was rehabilitated at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, then airlifted to Iceland in 1998.
His handlers there prepared him for the wild, teaching him to catch live fish in an operation that cost about 500,000 dollars a month. That amount paid for a year of care, according to the Free Willy Foundation in San Francisco, California.
Keiko was released from Iceland in July 2002. He swam straight for Norway on a 1,400-kilometre trek that seemed to be a search for human companionship.
Keiko 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.
Keiko lived in Taknes Bay, a clear, calm pocket of coastal water deep enough to prevent freezing in winter.
Keepers 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 handlers pinpoint his location provided he stayed within a range of about seven kilometres.
Keiko's stardom came from the three Free Willy films, in which a young boy befriends a captive killer whale and coaxes him to jump over a sea park wall to freedom.
That launched an ongoing 20 (m) million dollar drive to make Keiko the first orca truly returned to nature.
Keiko's keepers said the whale seemed to adapt to living in the wild despite so many years in captivity, learning to slap his tail and do jumps called side breaches that are typically done to stun fish in the wild.
To keep Keiko in shape, his caretakers took him on walks, leading him around the fjords from a small boat at least three times a week.
Keiko was captured near Iceland in 1979 and sold to the marine park industry, but the drive to free him only started in 1993, after he was found ailing in a Mexico City aquarium.
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Keiko- I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing
Today is the anniversary of Keiko's death. He died 7 years ago of pneumonia in Taknes Bay, Norway. We all miss him dearly but his legacy lives on in those who love him.R.I.P. Keiko! :) I don't own the song I don't wanna miss a thing by Aerosmith and I don't own the footage that belongs to Soppins! :) Please enjoy watching! No nasty comments and NO using the footage or stealing my video!
Ω Best Movie Scene - Free Willy - Orca Final Scape Jump
Keiko (the orca), whose name means lucky one in the Japanese language but is given only to females was captured near Reyðarfjörður, 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.
Keiko died in Taknes Bay, Norway while swimming in the fjords on December 12, 2003, at about 27 years of age. Pneumonia was determined as his probable cause of death.