Kill Keiko, says whale expert

A NORWEGIAN whale expert’s suggestion that Keiko the killer whale – the star of the Free Willy movies – might have to be shot has outraged activists and the team that helped return the orca to freedom.

Keiko turned up in a fjord in Western Norway over the weekend, six weeks after he was released from his pen in Iceland, where experts had spent years seeking to help him make the transition from life in captivity to one in the wild.

The orca was an instant hit in the Skaalvik Fjord, where children swam with the whale, some even climbing on his back, and small boats crowded around for a glimpse of the finned Hollywood star. However, a leading whale expert, Nils Oien, shocked Keiko’s fans and other experts by saying the orca, used to life in captivity, had little chance of surviving a winter in the cold western Norway fjords and might have to be shot: “Then it would be better to put him to death.”

Animal officials and activists were quick to denounce the suggestion, saying it would be unthinkable for Keiko to be shot and it was up to people to help him survive. Keiko is probably the world’s most famous whale after his starring role in the three Free Willy films that were released in the 1990s, as well as a brief animated series shown on television.

“It is clear that Keiko is having trouble with life in the wild,” Jan Einarsen, director of the Atlanterhavsparken aquarium in Western Norway, said. “He needs help.” Einarsen, who went to see the Orca on Monday and Tuesday, agreed that Keiko might not be able to survive the winter on his own but said people could provide him with food and companionship, perhaps in some remote area.

The Norwegian Fisheries Ministry said killing Keiko was not an option. Spokesman Dag Paulsen said Keiko would not be shot and the agency was talking to American researchers who know the whale. “According to the information we have from them it should be possible to coax the whale out of the coastal area in a humane and effective way by using food.”

Keiko, which means Lucky One in Japanese, was captured near Iceland in 1979 when he was two and spent most of his life in captivity in Canada and Mexico. His appearance in the 1993 film Free Willy and later sequels helped spark a campaign to free him.

“We think people have to take responsibility for what they have done to Keiko by holding him in captivity,” Siri Relling of the Norwegian Federation for Animal Protection said. “Let Keiko have a fjord. It’s better to have a large fjord than a small aquarium.”