Keiko, a Genus Orca whale, was born in 1976 and captured off the coast of Iceland in 1979. He was sold to the marine park industry, and lived a normal life for a captive whale until 1993. In that year, he was cast as "Willy" in the movie "Free Willy," capturing the hearts of millions of children and adults worldwide. Afterwards, he was virtually forgotten until he was found living in horrible condition in a Mexican aquarium. An international pledge was started, and enough money was raised to have him sent to the Oregon Coast Aquarium; before being airlifted back to Iceland in 1998 to prepare him for a return to the wild.
He was trained to survive in the wild and released in July of 2002, but he longed for human contact. He swam 870 miles; eventually ending up in Helsa, Norway in September of 2002, where local residents played with him often; so much so that animal protection authorities banned anyone from approaching him. He was looked after by whale keepers for the last year of life, suddenly coming down with pneumonia on December 10, 2003. He died a day later.
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