Star whale takes one real step to freedom

On a signal from a handler, the 9,050-pound, droopy finned orca swam into a nearby holding tank and was slowly lifted with a nylon sling into a special transport tank on the back of a truck.

He made chirping noises during the move.

Hundreds of children and adults waved goodbye, some carrying "We Love You Keiko" banners outside the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

"A part of me feels sad," said 9-year-old Kasey Lindsay, who wore a Keiko T-shirt and sipped Keiko root beer outside the aquarium. "But then I'm glad he is leaving so he can be with his family."

The whale headed to an Air Force C-17 transport plane for the eight-hour flight to Iceland. There, he will be placed in a football-field-sized bay pen that will serve as a sort of halfway house until is able to be released into the wild.

There was less enthusiasm in his soon-to-be home, where killer whales abound. "It's ridiculous to have a 21-year-old orca come back here to Iceland," said artist Eva Benjaminsdottir. Others questioned whether he can adjust to the wild.

The 1993 box-office hit "Free Willy," about an orca threatened by a villainous amusement park owner, took on a whole new meaning when it was learned that the real-life whale was actually in a cramped Mexico City tank.

School kids collected pennies to help save the ailing Keiko (KAY-koh). Warner Bros. and cell-phone billionaire Craig McCaw kicked in millions more to bring him to the spacious Oregon tank to recuperate from lung infections and lesions.

Two and a half years and $12 million later, Keiko has regained his strength, put on at least a ton of muscle and blubber and has taken lessons to catch his daily diet of 145 pounds of fish, instead of being hand-fed.

"He is the most fit whale I have ever seen in captivity," veterinarian Lanny Cornell said before the whale was loaded into his water-filled, fiberglass box for his long flight to Iceland.

In his pen, Keiko will be reintroduced to the sights and sounds of the same waters off Iceland southern coast where he was captured more than 19 years ago at age 2.

Still, trying to transform a long-captive, pampered whale back into a ruthless predator has never been tried before, and whale handlers at aquariums across the nation say Keiko's move is only a feel-good exercise that puts the whale at risk.

Critics say that Keiko isn't skilled enough at catching fish, has no experience interacting with other orcas and could be shocked by the frigid, harsh conditions of the North Atlantic.

And some question the $2 million cost, all paid by the Free Willy Keiko Foundation.

Even Keiko's most enthusiastic handlers say it will be at least two years before they can determine if he can survive in the open ocean. And they concede he may spend the rest of his life - 10 years or more - in the pen.

The varied dangers to Keiko left mixed feelings with the children of Oregon's coast who have adopted the whale as their own.

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