Keiko's exploits in shunning his own kind don't surprise traine

NEWPORT, Ore. -- At Ocean Coast Aquarium, the 1.6 million-gallon pool that held Keiko the whale for nearly three years has been converted into a tank for sharks. But reminders of the superstar orca still are evident in the display of a quilt and clay figures made by fans.

And, like a superstar athlete coming out of retirement for another shot at the spotlight, Keiko himself sparked international headlines when he made a public appearance this month.

Keiko, the 6-ton performer best known for his role in the 1993 movie "Free Willy," surfaced in Norway, playing with children and eating out of the hands of fishermen in the latest chapter of a high-profile effort by animal-rights activists to adapt him from a life in captivity to a life in the open sea with his fellow killer whales.

Gregarious, playful and popular during his tenure here, Keiko's exploits in shunning his own kind for humans don't surprise the trainers at this seaside aquarium, who are concerned about the orca's prospects for survival in the wild.

Keiko's reappearance has drawn attention to an emerging movement to free captured sea animals from aquariums and water parks across the country and has reignited a simmering debate between some trainers at Ocean Coast and animal-rights activists over whether the mammal was suited for release.

"At the time, those working with him knew he was a poor choice for release," said Ken Lytwyn, senior marine mammalist at Ocean Coast Aquarium, who trained Keiko from January 1996 to September 1998.

"One of my colleagues always said that Keiko's personality was like a golden retriever -- he does not have a killer instinct," Lytwyn added. "Some people say it's better for him to die in the ocean than to be incarcerated in a pool. I don't agree with that."

Early last week, Keiko turned up in a bustling Norwegian fjord, about 870 miles from the remote site in Iceland where animal-rights activists were working to reacclimate him to the wild. Keiko swam and played with children and accepted food from fishermen -- the opposite of what he was being trained to do.

The worries of Keiko supporters were exacerbated by the comments of one Norwegian official, who said Keiko should be recaptured or put to death because he jeopardized the fishing industry.

By earlier this month, that official had retracted his statements and the government agreed to a request by activists to maintain a perimeter around Keiko, keeping the public away.

Keiko's stardom began with "Free Willy," a movie about a troubled boy who attempts to save his orca friend from the villainous owner of a water park who plots to kill the animal for insurance money. The movie launched a movement to free Keiko, who had been snatched from his mother in the waters off Iceland and had spent years as an attraction at amusement parks in Canada and Mexico.