User:Orcaenthusiast1598/Keiko (orca)

Keiko (earlier Siggi and Kago; c. 24 September 1976 – 12 December 2003) was a male orca captured in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland in 1979. He was best known for his portrayal of Willy in the 1993 film Free Willy. In 1996, Warner Bros. and the International Marine Mammal Project collaborated to return Keiko to the wild. After years of preparing Keiko for reintegration, Keiko was flown to Iceland in 1998 and in 2002, became the first captive orca to be fully released back into the ocean. On 12 December 2003, he died of pneumonia in a bay in Norway at the age of 27.

Background Information

Easily recognizable due to their uniquely distinguishing black and white coloring, Orca are also known as the largest member of the dolphin family. Orca, or killer whales as they are also referred to are very intelligent and social animals. They intricately hunt in lifelong pods where they also divide the responsibility of raising young. Following next to humans, orca are the most widely distributed mammals in the world, occupying every ocean on the planet. Varying in size depending on their location, Adult males are distinguishably larger than females, reaching 32 feet (10 meters) in length, with females getting to about 28 feet (8.5 meters) in length. There are three recognized types of orca: resident, offshore, and transient.

Residents reside in larger pods close to shore with about 10-20 individuals, feeding mainly on fish. Although Offshore orca are similar to residents, their appearances significantly differ. They are generally smaller, and have nicked, rounded fins. Transient orca spend their entire lives out at sea and travel in smaller pods comprised of anywhere from three to seven members. They mainly prey on seals, sea lions, and other dolphins. Although their outward appearances may be similar, these three types of orca have genetic differences that prevent interbreeding and general interaction.

Orca do not have a specific breeding season, but tend to lean more towards summer. Female orcas have a gestation period of about 15-18 months before finally birthing a single calf, which she will then go on to nurse for up to a year. Due to their level of intelligence, each pod is comprised of intricate and complex social hierarchies, which include a matriarch. It's not uncommon for many families to live together, and for each family to have multiple generations.

Orca have been coined the "wolves of the sea" in reference to their hunting tactics. Primarily hunting in packs, they are known to use their numbers to get their prey in the most optimal position to make the kill. With eyes adapted to see underwater as well as above water, orca heavily rely on their sense of hearing when it comes to hunting. Using their hearing they are able to find figure out the shape, size, direction, and distance of objects and other animals. Their diet consists of other marine animals such as seals, sea lions, and whales. Specific populations that are found off the coast of isolated islands have been recorded to have adapted specialized diets correlating to what is available. However, an adult orca on average consumes 500 pounds of food a day which means whatever they are eating needs to either be large or in abundance.

Early Life

Keiko was captured near Reyðarfjörður, Iceland in 1979 at the approximate age of two and sold to the Icelandic Aquarium in Hafnarfjörður. At the time, he was named Siggi, with the name Kago given at a later date.

In 1982, he was transferred to Marineland in Ontario, Canada. At this new facility, he first started performing for the public and developed skin lesions indicative of poor health and was also bullied by older orca. Keiko was then sold to Reino Aventura, an amusement park in Mexico City, Mexico, in 1985. Keiko lived in a warm, chlorinated tank with artificial salt water. These conditions were more suited to dolphins, and due to this, his health continued to decline. Around this time Keiko was also performing frequently for the public.

At Reino Aventura, he was given the name "Keiko", a feminine Japanese name that means "lucky one". At the time, he was only 10 feet (3.0 m) long.

Orca in Captivity

Very often, orca in captivity die from pneumonia or other infections that they wouldn't have contracted if their immune systems weren't compromised and weakened. Only a few wild caught orca have lived past 30, and there is no record of any captive born orca living longer either. Since 1977, over 70 orcas have been born around the world into captivity. Approximately 37 of them are now dead.

Orca are highly intelligent, highly social animals that seek to live, feed, and migrate over vast distances in the ocean, travelling over 40 miles a day on average. As a means of exercise, and for foraging food they dive 100 to 500 every day, multiple times a day.

"Not one marine animal is adapted to thrive in the world we've made for them in a concrete box" says Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington D.C.

Captivity can compromise orca health, which is most prominent in their most essential element-- their teeth. A 2017 study in the Journal Archives of Oral Biology found that nearly 25% of all orca in captivity in the U.S. have tooth damage, while 70% have suffered at least some form of dental damage.

In the wild it's not uncommon for an orca population to display signs of wear and tear on their teeth, however this happens naturally and over a long period of time. The damage occurring in captivity is in large part due to stress-induced behavior. Orca will continuously grind their teeth along their tank walls, exposing nerves. These open cavities remain readily susceptible to infection regardless of the tank upkeep. Self-mutilation is typical for animals that are kept captive in too-small enclosures with not enough enrichment.

Wild orca live in close, dynamic groups that share a very unique culture passed through generations. Artificially replicating this by housing orca in the same tank limits their ability to escape conflict, among other social practices.

Free Willy

Keiko became the star of the film Free Willy in 1993. The publicity from his role led to an effort by Warner Bros in order to find him a better home. The pool for the now 21-foot-long (6.4 m) orca was only 22 feet (6.7 m) deep, 65 feet (20 m) wide and 114 feet (35 m) long. He was housed with bottlenose dolphins, but no others of his own species. Keiko was underweight for his size, and the water temperature was often too warm, which contributed to various skin problems. Due to a papillomavirus infection, Keiko experienced skin outbreaks, first observed while he was housed in Ontario, Canada, prior to his transfer to Mexico City, which complicated both his candidacy for relocation and for eventual release into the wild.

Free Willy-Keiko Foundation

Outcry for Keiko's liberation arose from the film's credits containing a phone number for whale preservation that received hundreds of thousands of call-ins. Warner Brothers and Craig McCaw approached the International Marine Mammal Project for help, which in February 1995 established the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation. With donations from the foundation and millions of school children, the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon was given over $7 million to construct facilities to return him to health with the hope of eventually returning him to the wild. Reino Aventura donated Keiko to the Foundation. Before he left the amusement park in Mexico City, Keiko performed for the public for the last time, and was seen off by thousands of children, with more onlookers watching his overnight journey to the Mexico City International Airport. At the time he weighed about 7,700 pounds (3493 kg). A C-130 cargo plane donated by United Parcel Service (UPS) hauled Keiko to Newport, Oregon on 8 January 1996.

On arrival in Oregon Coast Aquarium, Keiko was housed in a new (2,000,000 US gallons (7,600,000 L)) concrete enclosure containing seawater. His weight had increased significantly by June 1997, to 9,620 pounds (4364 kg).

Re-introduction to the wild

The plan to return him to the wild was a topic of much controversy. Some felt his years of captivity made such a return impossible. Researchers in a scientific study later said attempts to return him to the wild were unsuccessful, but that monitoring him with radio and satellite tags was part of "a contingency plan for return to human care," which secured "the long-term well-being of the animal." Others considered his release misguided. The Norwegian pro-whaling politician Steinar Bastesen made international news for his statement that Keiko should instead be killed and the meat sent to Africa as foreign aid.

Nevertheless, the process of preparing Keiko for the wild began on 9 September 1998, when he was flown to Klettsvík, a bay on the island of Heimaey in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland. UPS again participated in transport, this time by providing ground transportation to the nearby Newport Municipal Airport. Keiko was transported in a specialized 30-foot-long (9.1 m) container filled with enough saltwater to cover him and cooled with ice cubes. He was then transported by air in a C-17 Globemaster airplane loaned by the U.S. Air Force. Upon landing at Vestmannaeyjar Airport, the C-17 Globemaster aircraft suffered a landing gear failure causing over $1 million in damage, though Keiko was unharmed.

His day-to-day care became the responsibility of the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation with management assistance from the Ocean Futures Society. He was initially housed in a pen in the Klettsvik Bay where he underwent training designed to prepare him for his eventual release, including supervised swims in the open ocean.

Ocean Futures left the Keiko project in late 2001. The Free Willy-Keiko Foundation and The Humane Society of the United States re-established management of the project at that time until Keiko's death in 2003. Keiko was fully free by the summer of 2002 and departed Icelandic waters in early August following some orcas but not integrated with the pod. His journey was tracked via the signal from a VHF tag attached to the dorsal fin. About a month later, he arrived in Norway's Skålvik Fjord, apparently seeking contact with human beings and allowing children to ride on his back. His caretakers relocated to Norway and continued to conduct boat-follows with Keiko for the next 15 months. On the basis of girth measurements and blood tests, it was assumed that Keiko had fed during his 900-mile (1500 km) journey from Iceland to Norway. Keiko occasionally approached groups of wild orcas, but remained on the periphery, at distances of 100–300 meters (109 to 328 yards), with his head pointing toward the closest orca.

Death

Keiko resided in Taknes Bay, which was a clear inlet of coastal water where he was free to roam. There he was fed and looked after by keepers. Keiko had a tracking device attached to his dorsal fin that allowed his four handlers to pinpoint his location as long as he stayed within range.

Although Keiko was old for an orca in captivity, male orca in the wild live up to around 35 years. Executive director of the Free Willy-Keiko foundation stated that Keiko was relatively healthy, up until a quick onset of symptoms which consisted of lethargy and loss of appetite the day before. Dale Richards, one of his handlers, said Keiko died quickly after an irregular respiration rate was measured at age 27 on 12 December 2003. Pneumonia was determined as his cause of death.

A spokesman of the Humane Society of the United States, Nick Braden said that veterinarians administered antibiotics to Keiko after he started showing symptoms that Thursday, unfortunately this was not enough.

Sources

National wildlife federation. “Orca | National Wildlife Federation.” National Wildlife Federation, 2019, www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Orca.

Barrantes, Nicole. “The Story of Keiko, the First Captive Orca Returned to the Wild.” World Animal Protection US, 1 Mar. 2022, www.worldanimalprotection.us/latest/blogs/story-keiko-first-captive-orca-returned-wild/.

“Orcas Don’t Do Well in Captivity. Here’s Why.” Animals, 25 Mar. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/orcas-captivity-welfare?loggedin=true&rnd=1712063633339. Accessed 2 Apr. 2024.

“Keiko the Killer Whale Dies.” NBC News, www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3700297.