Whale Keiko Dies

[trailergod]

very tragic

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../keiko_dies_13

OSLO, Norway - Keiko, the killer whale who gained fame starring in the "Free Willy" movies, has died in a Norwegian bay that he made his home after a 10-year campaign failed to coax him back to the open seas.

Keiko, who was about 26 years old, died Friday after suddenly contracting pneumonia in the Taknes fjord in Norway.

Caretaker Dane Richards told The Associated Press that the illness struck the 25-foot mammal fairly quickly as Keiko appeared lethargic and lost his appetite.

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

In the wild, orcas can live an average of 35 years. Keiko was believed born in 1977 or 1978 off Iceland.

The drive to free Keiko, who was captured near Iceland in 1979 and sold to the marine park industry, began in 1993 after he was found ailing in a Mexico City aquarium. He was rehabilitated at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, then airlifted to Iceland in 1998.

His handlers prepared him for the wild, teaching him to catch live fish in an operation that cost about $500,000 a month. That same amount paid for a year of care in Norway, according to the Free Willy Foundation in San Francisco.

Keiko, which means "Lucky One" in Japanese, was released from Iceland in July 2002 with hopes that he would return to the wild. But he swam straight for Norway on a 870-mile trek that seemed to be a search for human companionship.

[discostu]

Thats very very sad

[editman]

You're free at last, Willy. R.I.P.

Of course the trailers of the Free Willy trilogy is available from this thread.

(Yes another shameless self-promo I know.)

[Jake]

Oh, look at that, Keiko is ALIVE!

It took us a little time to bend this one's fin but IT IS KEIKO!

[Jake]

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Keiko, the killer whale star of the "Free Willy" movies, was buried Monday in a snow-bound pasture during the deep darkness of Nordic winter in a ceremony kept secret from the public. "We wanted to let him be at peace," said Dane Richards, one of his caretakers. "He's free now and in the wild." The fame prompted a $20 million program to free Keiko from a Mexico city aquarium where he was languishing.

this is CNN.com's International Edition? I expected some NEWS!!!
http://us.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/....ap/index.html

[editman]

Hmmm... considering whales live at sea, wouldn't Keiko be more comfortable after-life if his body's returned to the ocean?

I take my words back, Willy. You're still confined.

At least you won't be minced and become cat food...

(Okay that last remark was too mean even for editman.)

[Jake]

...and we find out it's all a scam meant to advertise the Free WIlly collector's Gift Set Extended Edition Silver Platinum Director's Cut