To free or not to free Willy? - April 07, 2009
Way back in the depths of time there was a moderately successful children’s movie called Free Willy, which detailed a boy’s attempts to free a killer whale from an amusement park.
‘Willy’ was actually Keiko, a whale from an amusement park in Mexico. After the film, amid much publicity, Keiko was returned to the wild. The Keiko Project website states: “After a wonderful journey in freedom, Keiko passed away in Norway on December 12, 2003 at age 27.”
“The most important question is did we do the right thing? I am certain we did,” wrote Jean-Michel Cousteau in 2003 on the website of the Ocean Futures Society, which was heavily involved in returning Keiko to the wild.
Now, in 2009, a peer-reviewed paper on ‘Free Keiko’ has been published. This again raises the question: was release really the best option?
As Malene Simon and colleagues write in Marine Mammal Science, previous successful reintroductions to the wild have been of animals held in sea pens (unlike Keiko) and for short periods of time (unlike Keiko).
“In retrospect, Keiko was indeed a poor candidate for release, due to the early age of his capture, long history of captivity, prolonged lack of contact with conspecifics, and strong bonds with humans,” they write.
After his release Keiko often initiated interactions with humans, the authors note. He never really dived like wild whales did. He seems not to have socially integrated with wild whales and it is possible he didn’t feed at all without human help.
“A release program can be considered a success when the released animal is able to feed, maintain health and stress levels comparable to his wild conspecifics, show normal predator avoidance behaviour, and ultimately reproduce (unless unable for other reasons, such as reproductive senescence),” write the authors of this new paper.
“Under these criteria, Keiko’s release to the wild was not successful, since though physically unrestricted and free to leave, he kept returning to his caretakers for food and company.”
At the end of the day, while it might have been appealing for humans to free Keiko, it may not have been good for the whale.
Comments
I totaly agree that freeing "Willy" was not in the best interests of the animal.
It did, however, provide a great cash-cow for several unscrupulous individuals, who squandered huge amounts of money donated by a naive public.
These people need to be held accountable not only for the death of this animal, but the mismanagement of the project and the fraud perpetuated on the public.
Posted by: Troy A. Saville | April 8, 2009 04:03 AM
I wrote about this issue right after Keiko's release and subsequent demise. The general public did not want to believe that the prospects of Keiko's survival were not optimal. Anyone with background in rehab or the habituated captive animal recognized the issue which seemed more motivated by good press than what might actually be the better choice for the whale.
Posted by: Ark Lady | April 8, 2009 09:33 PM
There was no fraud, only good intentions by the one primary donor who directed the project. The fatal flaw was the omission of essential field work to locate Keiko's close maternal family prior to releasing him, to make sure he was released in their company. If that step had been taken Keiko may have rejoined his family. Keiko did catch live fish in Oregon and Iceland, and contrary to this article, the authors of the cited paper concluded that Keiko apparently fed himself during his swim to Norway. Overall he thrived in his native waters for five years until his demise on a lonely winter night in Norway. The managers of the project, like the authors of the paper and the writer of the article, have missed the profound strength of maternal bonding and cultural identity in orcas.
Posted by: Howard Garrett | April 10, 2009 07:01 PM
The fact of the matter is that Keiko or any whale in captivity now should never have been captured in the first place. It could be said that 'Free Willy' promoted marine mammal theme parks, and people did not see the ultimate message behind the film that was to 'Free Willy'. Despite the film's success at releasing 'Keiko' hundreds more whales remain in captivity that have to endure similar conditions to those that Keiko had to live in at the theme park where he lived before he was released.
Posted by: Free Willy | April 17, 2009 11:51 AM
This is not the only case now people are trying to recreate this atrocity with lolita, another orrca they have been raising money for over 12 years with nothing to show but some beach side vigils.
how these people sleep, taking money from well meaning people for causes that are doomed to failure.
There is no science that supports the re-release of long term held captive cetaceans, no attempt at this has succeeded yet.
With so many Cetaceans facing extinction is this really the most viable use of funds.
Filling your pockets using the plight of these unfortunate animals is despicable.
Remember folks a 501(c)(3) non profit organization does not mean they do not draw extravagant wages nor that they do not pay huge consultancy fees.
I do not agree with an animal suffering in a concrete dish but i disagree more with profiting off an animals suffering.
Posted by: Wee Willy | September 5, 2009 05:41 AM