Free Willy star returns to the wild

Keiko the whale, star of the hit film Free Willy, is adjusting to life in the wild after years in captivity and now lives with a school of killer whales off Iceland's south coast, scientists said Tuesday.

"We are very excited and optimistic about Keiko's chances of surviving in the wild," Hallur Hallsson, spokesman for the Ocean Futures Society, told Reuters.

The Ocean Futures Society has monitored Keiko's adaptation to the open seas.

Keiko was captured near Iceland as a young calf and performed in marine amusement parks in Canada and Mexico for almost 20 years.

He was returned to Iceland in 1998 after people saw him as the captive whale in the 1993 movie Free Willy and campaigned for him to go home.

"Keiko has become more interested in the ocean and other orcas (killer whales) than human beings. That is a very important factor for returning him to the wild," Hallsson said.

In early July, Keiko's trainers escorted the 25-year-old whale to an open ocean area inhabited by wild killer whales.

Keiko stayed with the whales for four days but then returned to the sea pen where he has been fed and trained for four years.

On July 17, the trainers again took him back to the other whales, and Keiko - who is being monitored with two tracking devices attached to his fin - seems to have stayed with them since, Hallsson said.

"We cannot be sure if he is doing all right, but we follow his movements closely," said Hallsson.

"We have to wait to find out if he can learn to hunt for food," he said, adding that Keiko had been seen with the other whales near a shoal of herring.