The orca whale that became known as Keiko was captured from a
pod in Iceland in 1979. He was exhibited there for three years,
then sold to Marineland in Ontario, Canada, where he performed
for audiences. Although Keiko appeared to enjoy contact with
humans, his dorsal fin began to droop and he developed skin
lesions. In 1985, Keiko was sold to Reino Aventura, an amusement
park in Mexico City. Warmer temperatures and chlorinated water
aggravated Keiko’s lesions and deteriorating health. Then, in
1993, Warner Brothers released Free Willy, a film about a boy
who frees an orca from an unscrupulous amusement park owner and
returns him to the ocean. Keiko starred as the orca. The success
of Free Willy and its sequels posed a moral dilemma: how could
people cheer Willy’s final leap to freedom knowing that the real
orca was captive, living under less-than-adequate conditions?
Warner Brothers and Northwest entrepreneur Craig McCaw
established the Free Willy Keiko Foundation in 1995. Donations
large and small, some fro