Richard Collins: No animals eligible for Oscars even if they are the real stars

New research finds that whale song has a human language-like structure

Free Willy: Keiko as Willy with Jason James Richter as Jesse. Image: Cinetext Collection/Sportsphoto/Allstar

Oisín, Patrick Carey’s evocation of Irish Nature, was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the 43rd Academy Awards ceremony in 1971 [link to film below]. However, despite their enormous contribution to cinema, animals wild or tame are not eligible for Oscars.

Keiko, the orca, might have been honoured for his 1993 performance in Free Willy. The little mongooses in the BBC’s Meercats United TV offering should have taken a statuette home in 1994. Fungie, with his friendly antics in Dingle Bay, surely deserved a ‘life-time achievement’ award.