Keiko (c. 1976 – 12 December 2003) was a male orca captured in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland in 1979, and widely 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.

1993 - Keiko, still in Mexico, listens to calls made by Southern Resident orcas with great interest. Photo by Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research. Anthropologists tell us that the stories we tell shape our perceptions of the world.

It tells the story of a boy who befriends a killer whale named Willy and helps him return to the ocean after living an inhumane life in captivity. The movie was widely successful, bringing in $154 million dollars at the box office and inspiring a generation of young animal rights activists.

Watch how Keiko, the orca star of the hit film Free Willy, became the first captive orca to be successfully returned to his ocean. From capture to stardom to rehabilitation, from seapen to daily outings with caretakers, experience how Keiko gained over 3000 lbs, mixed it up with wild orcas, and even exhibited physical signs of attempts to mate ...

2023年7月19日 · On December 12, 2003, the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation and the Humane Society of the United States reported that Keiko, the orca whale, died in the Taknes Fjord, Norway, in the company of staff members who had been caring for him there.

It's an orca, a killer whale that we humans captured from the wild, took from his mother and trained to be completely tame and live alongside us. This killer whale was so tamed that at night, when his trainers went home, and he was all alone, he would watch TV from inside his tank.

Keiko (pronounced KAY-ko) was an approximately 26-year-old male Icelandic killer whale who was captured near Ingólfshöfði (EENG-ohls-hovu-thi), south-east Iceland, on November 5th, 1979, alongside another male killer whale later named King. He is famous for his starring role as “Willy“ in the movie Free Willy. He was also one of the only ...

2018年5月23日 · Based on documented diving behavior and his healthy and robust condition on his arrival in Norway, Keiko’s veterinarian and leading orca scientists concluded that there was strong evidence that he successfully fed himself, a major milestone on his journey back to …

Keiko, a male orca (orcinus orca) originally captured in 1979 from a pod in Iceland, lived in Oregon for less than three years. During that time he became one of Oregon’s best-known celebrities and a major attraction at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

Keiko was the first captive orca whale ever returned to his home waters, a historic first. He lived out his life free of the stresses and dangers of life in a concrete tank. We continue to tell Keiko’s real-life story and how the retirement, rescue, and possible release or …