Keiko: The Untold Story of the Star of Free Willy

Gr 6 Up—Keiko, a two-year-old male orca, was captured in Icelandic waters and spent the first few years of his life in a variety of small and unsuitable tanks as a performer. orcas, in the wild, are familial, intelligent animals that can live to be 90 years old. In captivity, they rarely live past 20. Keiko, lethargic and ill, was chosen to be the star of the 1993 film Free Willy and became the object of a Free Keiko movement, funded in part by donations from millions of schoolchildren. After Keiko was brought back to health in a specially built large tank, a grand experiment was begun to rejoin him with wild orcas living in Icelandic waters. Over several years, Keiko was taught to hunt and to swim in open waters. He often tried to mingle with pods of wild orcas, but the integration was never successful, and eventually he lived alone off the Norway Coast. He was tended to by a team of dedicated scientists, though he was free to leave. But needing the human companionship that he had known all his life, Keiko remained with his tenders. At the age of 27, Keiko died of pneumonia, having outlived all captive orcas. This film chronicles his life with footage from his captive and semifree existence. Interviews with his keepers show the level of concern they felt for him and the need to end the deplorable conditions under which captive whales are forced to live.