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  • About
    • Mission & Programs
    • The Team
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Timeline: 2015 to present
  • The Sanctuary
  • Whale Aid
  • The Whales
  • Deeper Dive
  • Blog
  • Events

Reintroducing Keiko to the Wild – the “Free Willy” Whale

Posted August 2, 2020 in News by Michael Mountain

Several of the people who are now on the team of the Whale Sanctuary Project worked together two decades ago to reintroduce the orca Keiko to the wild – bringing him from a theme park in Mexico City to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, to a bay in Iceland, and finally to the Atlantic Ocean.

In this webinar, two members of Keiko’s team talk about what it was like bringing him to Iceland on a giant cargo plane leased from the U.S. military and then working with him for four years in Klettsvik Bay as he learned that live fish are food and developed the skills to interact with others of his own kind in the ocean, until the day he set off on his own on a 1,000-mile adventure that took him to the coast of Norway.

It’s a fascinating discussion between Jeff Foster, Keiko’s Director of Field Operations and Research, and Charles Vinick, who served as Project Director in Iceland. Today, Charles is the Executive Director of the Whale Sanctuary Project, and Jeff is our Site Search, Animal Transfer and Rehab Coordinator.

Toward the end of this webinar, Charles looks back over the whole experience and notes that while we have always known that it is very easy to capture a whale from the ocean, “What we learned is that it is very difficult to put one back.”

Also on the Blog

  • How We Can Give Sanctuary to the Whales Who Cannot Wait
  • A Tale of Two Baby Orcas
  • Orca Brains and Intelligence
  • Canada Bans Captivity of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
  • A Deep Dive into Environmental Analysis
  • TEDx Talk “Whales Without Walls” by Charles Vinick
  • Whale Aid Russia

Live Series of Webinars

What is an authentic sanctuary?
Latest discoveries about beluga whale societies.
The psychology of captivity.
Free Willy and the legacy of Keiko.
… and many more.


Check out this series of engaging conversations >

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