This movie raised awareness about how whales are exploited in captivity, but in order to make this movie, a whale was taken from its natural habitat, trained and exploited, just like in the movie, only he wasn't set free in real life.
This was one of my favorite childhood movies, but watching it now just makes me feel disillusioned and sad for Keiko.
I wish Dylan Thomas was real so I could tell him he's awesome.
This movie raised awareness about how whales are exploited in captivity, but in order to make this movie, a whale was taken from its natural habitat, trained and exploited,
he wasn't set free in real life.
The ironic thing is that he was raised in captivity and then he was released into the ocean after being trained on how to survive in the wild, but he was desperate for human contact, so he would swim up to the coast to be played with, so they put a ban on anyone having any contact with him, and then he got pneumonia later that year and died... even though he was now free, I bet that last year was the worst year of his life. He probably felt lost and abandoned. He would have been better off either never being captured, or never being released.
shareThey did not deprive him of human contact, when they realized they could not integrate him into another pod, Norway allowed him to stay in their waters, where the keiko project team (with his trainers and handlers) took cafe of him until he died. There are pictures of hi with his trainers in the water with him in Norway. They banned the public from interacting with him, but that was for his and their safety.
shareExactly.
After many years of captivity and human contact, it's normal for a wild animal be unable to be integrated back into the wild life.
When one is found hurt and taken care of, people avoid making contact with them exactly for that. When a dub is rescued, they use special tools to feed him, also so he doesn't have direct contact with humans.
When the psychological hurt is done, then it's better to just keep them in a good captivity place than to free them and let them get depressive and die.
Ok I know this post is ancient, but seriously, I thought half the world knew Keiko was rehabbed and released in Iceland?? Pretty successfully, I might add.
Be cool, Sodapop.
And tragically died a year later.
shareNo it wasn't successful. He died in 2003 reportedly and never formed part of a pod.
It's too cerebral! We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!
A friend of mine is a marine biologist working in Iceland with Orcas, the fate of Keiko was horribly sad and tragic, despite best intentions to try to rehabilitate him. The animal's fate was sealed the minute he was captured. He died alone in Norwegian Waters, shunned by his own kind, confused and stressed, completely without the skills to fend for himself. It is reported that his caretakers were with him, however my friend told me that he disappeared, presumed dead - I have no idea which story is true - I assume this is what she has heard from other scientists.
These animals should never be captured in the first place. Rehabilitation is hard at the best of times and very stressful for the animal. Places like Seaworld should be centres to educate our children on the dangers that face the disappearing marine life in the oceans, and no longer a 'spectacle' where animals are exploited for human entertainment. I was diving in Borneo recently and I was shocked by the amount of plastic washed up on Mabul Island - stretching back into the bay a good 100m, and at least 20m deep. That gets washed back out into the ocean at high tide. The video going viral at the moment of the turtle having a straw pulled out of its nose is just another example of how pollution is affecting marine life. Loss of coral reefs to topsoil cover from logging and also the rising temperatures in oceans and over-fishing are decreasing fish life. I've seen this first hand, diving places I went to 10+ years ago where you were guaranteed to see large fish, turtles, sharks and rays on each dive, you'd be lucky if you only saw one of those now let alone all four. Wildlife trafficking, poaching and decrease of habitat is just as bad on land. Soon it really will be too late :( If anyone reading this post has an inkling to travel and hasn't done so, do it now, the natural world is disappearing fast.
It's too cerebral! We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!
Would you guys prefer seeing these animals being hunted?
shareAre you saying captivity is better than being hunted? Is it one or the other? Would you rather be in jail or murdered? You have to pick one, no other option exists in the human world.
shareYou should watch that documentary on captive orcas, their life is horrible. What captivity does to them, do you know they drill their healthy teeth without anesthesia so that they can clean it easier with a h hose? It's a life of torture. They should never be captured, some go insane in captivity.
Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel