Keiko (Free Willy) dies, 27

Movie star whale Keiko dies

Photo: Jack Smith/AP File
Keiko swims in his tank at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in this photo from January of 1998

Associated Press

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Oslo ? Keiko, the killer whale star of the Free Willy movies has died, his caretakers said early Saturday morning.

The whale, which was 27 years old, died after the sudden onset of pneumonia in the Taknes fjord in Norway on Friday afternoon. His animal-care specialist, Dane Richards, said the disease struck the cetacean fairly quickly.

?He exhibited some signs of lethargy and lack of appetite,? Mr. Richards said early Saturday morning.

Mr. Richards said Keiko's illness was sudden and veterinarians had monitored his progress but the whale died quickly.

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

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 $500,000 (U.S.) a month.

Keiko was released from Iceland in July 2002. He swam straight for Norway on a 1,400-kilometre trek that seemed to some a search for companionship. He turned up near the village Halsa in late August or early September 2002. He allowed fans to pet and play with him, even crawl on his back, becoming such an attraction animal-protection authorities imposed a ban on approaching him.

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. He called it ?a really sad moment? but added that they could believe that they gave the whale ?a chance to be in the wild.?

Keiko was captured near Iceland in 1979 and sold to the marine park industry. 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.

The $20-million drive to free him was started in 1993, after he was found ailing in a Mexico City aquarium.

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I'm surprised that nobody who reported this story asked Jason James Richter for a soundbite. I want to know if he cried or not (I know I'd be crying). On the second thought, maybe it's better not to pester people, eh?

 

I just read this over at Yahoo.com

Very sad news

 

Bound to die anyway. In the words of Jiko: We all die. Some now, some later.

 

I saw it on the news last night. I visited Keiko several times when he was at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Poor guy.

 

Very sad indeed ;( The way I see it, at least he didn't leave his body in that horrible acquarium in Mexico, he did have a sporting chance to get back into the wild, at least if the article is right. I'd have loved to see him in real life, you were very fortunate, Bib ...

 

Well, the aquarium is in Newport Oregon, which is only about an hour away from me. I think I saw him there at least 5 times.