FEATURE - Real-life "Free Willy" needs call of the wild
Date: 21-Aug-01
Country: ICELAND
Author: Oliver Grassman
Biologists are racing to wean the shy 23-year-old whale away from his reliance on humans and teach him to hunt and socialise with wild killer whales, or orcas, before they migrate from Keiko's home in a rocky Icelandic bay.
Keiko has made forays into the ocean to meet a pod of passing orcas and has made some progress, but after 21 years in captivity he lacks the social skills to be accepted. Dejected, he always returns to his keepers' boats.
"He's something of a shy person in a room full of strangers," Jeff Foster, director of field operations for non-profit group Ocean Futures, told Reuters.
"If we only knew what's going on in his head. Basically he seems to come back every time after he's been in contact with the other whales. Why that happens is difficult to say."
"Free Willy" depicts a young boy saving a killer whale from an evil marine park owner. Keiko's fate seems more ironic every day he chooses to stay close to humans.
KEIKO NEEDS TO GROW UP
Killer whales live and travel in pods, following the migration patterns of the herring on which they feed. Keiko has made friends with a visiting pod this summer, but they are likely to swim away again in late August.
Ocean Futures has been training Keiko on the Icelandic coast for three years, building up his fitness ready for release.
"For the last two weeks he has taken the initiative in separating from our boats. But he keeps coming back," Ocean Futures Vice-President Charles Vinick told Reuters.
Though he is now healthy enough to live in the open sea, Keiko's freedom depends on his own will to join a pod. Killer whales usually forage in groups, with some diving into the depths to chase up shoals of herring towards friends lying in wait near the surface.
"What we can't teach him is navigation and socialising. Both of those things he will have to learn from the wild whales," Foster said.
His handlers have reduced the amount of food they give Keiko to encourage him to hunt, tracking his movements from the air to make sure he gets enough to eat.
"What we don't have is a continued bond with the other whales. It's a very complex social structure to break into. We haven't seen his acceptance," Vinick said.
No captive orca has ever been successfully reintroduced, and his handlers are wondering what more they can do.
CAPTURED AS A BABY
Keiko was captured in the Atlantic at the age of two and moved to an Icelandic aquarium. He was then moved several times between marine parks in North America before he starred in the blockbuster "Free Willy".
The controversy began when animal rights activists protested that Keiko's health was suffering in captivity.
His preparation for release into the wild started in Oregon on the west coast of the United States in 1995, where he began learning the survival skills of a free killer whale. In 1998 he was moved back to his native waters in Vestmannaeyjar, where he lives in a penned-off bay.
Time is not on Keiko's side, as his new acquaintances prepare to migrate away.
"Once in travel, there is less social interaction. The next two weeks will therefore be crucial. We will have to see sustained interaction and living together for a high probability of Keiko leaving with the wild whales," says Vinick.
"We have support world-wide and we have financial backers who are very supportive," Foster said. "Still, financially I don't know how long this project can be run at this level of commitment, because it is very costly."
That means tension is rising among his handlers.
"Certainly, we as researchers feel the pressure. But the human pressure and the human timetable shouldn't be given that much focus. What matters is Keiko's own timetable," Vinick said.
Keiko's story is dark with irony, not least since Iceland has refused to join a ban on whale hunting.
"Fishermen in Iceland are quite amused at the project, considering it a waste of American money," said Brynhilde Benediktsdotter, an e
