Keiko found a winter home

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In a message dated 10/16/2002 4:18:51 PM Pacific Daylight Time,

berman writes:

 

 

PORTLAND OREGONIAN

 

Caretakers find winter home with 'choices' for Keiko

 

10/16/02

KATY MULDOON

 

 

A grassy slope descends to a pebble-filled beach that spills into

the clear, calm, deep water of Taknes Bay, Norway.

 

Ahhh. Home sweet orca home.

 

After scouring the country's coast in search of winter digs for

Keiko the killer whale, his caretakers said Tuesday that next week

they will move the " Free Willy " star to the scenic bay, about six

miles from where he now swims. Keepers will feed Keiko, but he will

be free to roam the bay, neighboring fjords -- even out to sea. He

will be equipped with satellite and VHF tracking devices, at least

through winter.

 

" This is not about having him stay there forever, " said David

Phillips, founder of the San Francisco-based Free Willy Keiko

Foundation. " This is about giving him choices. "

 

Keepers released Keiko from a sea pen in Iceland this summer and

the long-captive orca swam nearly 900 miles to Norway. There, he

followed a fishing boat into Skaalvik fjord, where residents in the

village of Halsa greeted the famous whale with open arms.

In the weeks since, those charged with his care had to reconsider

the next step in their unique effort to transform the long-captive

show animal into a whale capable of rejoining an orca society.

 

A couple of things were clear: They would have to feed him, at

least for a while longer. And they wanted to distance him from the

human contact he had come to know in Halsa, where thousands of

Norwegians have traveled to get a look at the whale.

 

" We wanted to be closer to wild whales, further from people,

protected from winter storms and ice, and away from any potential

conflicts with fish farms or boat traffic, " Phillips said. " This

will give us a good place to operate from. "

 

The site comes equipped with a boat, dock and house where keepers

can live. The home was in disrepair, but nearby residents so wanted

the whale and keepers to stay, they organized a fix-up day to make

the dwelling livable. Fishermen will provide a steady source of

herring for Keiko, and residents have offered the staff use of a

boat.

 

" They were very taken by the whole Keiko thing, " Phillips

said. " But they also know this is a reintroduction effort. In

January, maybe before, we'll take him out and put him in with wild

whales again and be ready to continue the odyssey. "

 

Migrating orcas arrive each year like clockwork, a local fisherman

says.

 

" When asked, 'When do orcas come around here?' he said, 'Jan. 19

every year. Jan. 19, that's when they come,' " Phillips said,

recalling the query.

 

Keepers have marked their calendars. The concentration isn't as

dense as it is in Norway's far north, where keepers had hoped to

place Keiko.

 

" But there was much more potential for conflict and not the

strength of support from the local community, like we had here, "

Phillips said. " So it became a pretty easy choice. "

 

Norwegian officials said they will not allow Keiko to be caught or

commercially exploited. Last month, a Florida marine park asked the

U.S. government for permission to capture Keiko and display him. But

Norway, which has jurisdiction, said no.

 

Keiko, about 25, was captured off Iceland in 1979 and sold into

captivity. After starring in the 1993 film, " Free Willy, " the effort

to return the affable black and white behemoth to the sea ensued. He

lived at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport from January 1996 to

September 1998, where keepers restored his flagging health.

 

Katy Muldoon: 503-221-8526; katymuldoon.