Keiko

         Keiko was born somewhere in Atlantic Ocean near Iceland between 1977 and 1978. That means that he was only about 2 years old when he was captured and taken away in November of 1979. Keiko was captured by J. Gunnarssn, on his own, by nets in South-east coast, Medallandsbugt. At the time of his capture Keiko was only 366 cm long.

          He was sent to Saedyrasafnid Aquarium in Iceland where he was in company of few other newly captured Icelandic killer whales. He was originaly named Siggi. Keiko did not stay very long in Saedyrasafnid, he was sold to Marineland Ontario, Canada in 1982, he was here re-named to Kago.

         Once he arrived there he was trained how to perform and was soon performing in front of the public. He was the smallest whale there and others would pick on him more than just ocassionaly. Keiko was sold to Reino Aventura an Amuzement Park in Mexico City, in 1985.

         He was there re-named. He was now known troughout Mexico as Keiko. There Keiko was in company of bottlenose dolphins. He grew very fast and his pool soon become too small of him. However he remained there.

          In 1992 Warner Bros. crew arrived to meet Keiko, who will be the star of their new family film, "Free Willy". Keiko plays "Willy" a whale who gets rescued by a young boy, Jesse (Jason James Richter), from his greedy owners.Willy goes back to his family in the wild but Keiko still stayed in his too small pool at Reino Aventura.

          "Free Willy" is released on 1993, and when kids learn that Keiko is still held captive, they want to help. A magazine features Keiko's life story and Worner Bros and Reino Aventura begin looking for a better place where Keiko could go and live.

          In 1994 Earth Island Institute starts discussing posibilities with Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. In November of the same year "Free Willy Foundation" is formed with a donation of $4 million from Worner Bros and an anonymous donator.

           Keiko himself is donated by Reino Aventura to Free Willy Foundation in 1995. It is then announced that Keiko will be sent to live at Oregon Coast Aquarium and then rehabilitaed for eventual release. Kids around the world sent money to Free Willy Foundation,to help Keiko along with more kind donations from other organizations. The new tank is finished by December 1995 and Keiko arrives on the 7th of January 1996. For the 1st time in 14 years Keiko experiances salt water again. By this time he weights 7,720 pounds which is very little for a killer whale of his age. By the end of that year her gained more than 1, 000 pounds.

          In May of 1997, staff trains Keiko to catch live fish but he only plays with them and catches and eats his 1st one in August. In February of 1998 he is weighted again and weights 9, 620 pounds.

          In 1998 a bay pen is being built in Iceland for Keiko by Familian Industrial Plastics in Washougal. Finaly on September 9th 1998 Keiko is lifted from his tank and flown by C-17 plane directly from Newport to Vestmannaeyjar Iceland where he for the 1st time since his capture swims in native waters.

           Ever since then Keiko has been trained for his eventual release. On March 3rd 2000 he was given the access to the entire bay in which he is held and can finaly swim to the bootom of it. On the 25th of Maythe same year he was taken out in the open ocean for ocean walks and meets the wild whales of Iceland with which he interacts but comes back to his "human friends" Since then Keiko has been "playing" with wild whales on regular basis but has not gone free. The choice is now up to him.