For Amy--Another sucess story in the annuals of "feel good" animal reintroductions along the lines of Elsa and Born Free

Keiko
CNN.com December 13.2003
OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Keiko, the killer whale made famous by the "Free Willy" movies, has died in Norwegian coastal waters where he remained after millions of dollars and a decade of work failed to coax him back to the open sea, his caretakers said early Saturday.

Keiko -- which means "Lucky One" in Japanese -- was captured in Iceland in 1979 and sold to the marine park industry. "I WOULD POINT OUT THAT HE SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE IN A MARINE PARK IN MEXICO, HISTORICALLY INEPT IN ALL ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, MARINE AS WELL AS LAND MAMMALS, AND THAT KEIKO SHOULD NOT REFLECT ON THE MARINE PARK INDUSTRY/MARINE MAMMAL TRAINING INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE, BUT BECAUSE "PEOPLE" HAVE ASSURED ME THAT THE PUBLIC LOOKS AT EACH CIRCUS FOR WHAT IT IS, AND EACH ANIMAL TRAINER FOR HIS/HER RESULTS AND DOESN'T STEREOTYPE THE WHOLE CIRCUS INDUSTRY/ANIMAL TRAINING INDUSTRY BY THE BEHAVIOR/PRODUCTION OF A FEW, I GUESS THERE IS NO NEED TO MAKE THAT POINT"

Starting in 1993, the six-ton, 35-foot-long mammal starred in three "Free Willy" movies, a heartwarming box-office franchise from Warner Brothers in which sympathetic humans help set a long-captive killer whale free.

The drive for the real-life reintroduction of the movies' star started after he was found ailing in a Mexico City aquarium. The project -- to reintegrate Keiko with a pod of wild killer whales -- cost more than $20 million and stirred interest and ire worldwide.

Keiko 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 a month. That amount recently paid for a year of care, Phillips said.

Keiko was released from Iceland in July 2002, but he swam straight for Norway on an 870-mile trek that seemed to be a search for human companionship.

He first turned up near the village of Halsa in late August or early September of 2002. There, 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.

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. "I WONDER IF THEY REALIZED HOW FORTUNATE THEY WERE THAT KEIKO HAD BEEN TRAINED. THEY MIGHT HAVE HAD TO COME UP WITH ANOTHER COUPLE OF MILLIONS DOLLARS TO GET HIM A HAMSTER WHEEL. IT IS AN ODD ITINERARY THEY HAD TO CONDUCT THREE TIMES A WEEK, BEING'S WE HAVE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE THAT AN ANIMAL WILL EXERCISE AND USE A LARGER SPACE IF WE PROVIDE IT FOR THEM. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T GET CONNED/TOLD WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR, IN A EFFORT AT YOUR DONATED DOLLARS/SUPPORT OF CIRCUS ANIMAL TRAINING"

There, I think we have balanced the CNN " whale spin" with the TIMES ONLINE " lion spin" below.