Associated Press
NEWPORT, Ore. — Nearly four years after Keiko vacated his pool at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, another killer whale may be moving in.
Federal fisheries officials this week asked the Oregon Coast Aquarium if it could take on the rehabilitation of a 2-year-old female orca, and the aquarium said yes on Friday.
The National Marine Fisheries Service hasn’t decided yet if that’s the route it will take to help the 11-foot whale in the Vashon Island area of Puget Sound, but the agency is expected to decide soon.
Whale researchers and whale rescue groups have been tracking the orca for the past six weeks. The animal remains in shallow water and has made no attempts to return to the open sea.
"It’s very similar to the situation with Keiko, where we were able to respond to a request for him to come to our facility," said aquarium president Phyllis Bell.
The aquarium gained fame for its rehabilitation work on behalf of Keiko, the whale star of the "Free Willy" movie. Keiko lived at the aquarium from January 1996 through September 1998 in a 2 million-gallon tank.
Keiko arrived with a number of health problems after living in a small, warm pool at a Mexico City amusement park. He thrived and put on more than 1,000 pounds at the aquarium and later was airlifted to a net pen in Iceland, where he is being groomed for possible release back to the wild.
This summer, Keiko swam with wild orca pods off Iceland but failed to join one.
Bell said if the young whale comes to the aquarium, it would move into the 850,000-gallon "open sea" tank, and would be kept only long enough to prepare it for release in the wild. The sharks that now live in the tank would move because of the possible danger they would pose to the whale.
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.