MAKE A CHANGE (PART 1): FREE WILLY

A heart warming story of a whale's trip to freedom 

Keiko, a killer whale, that weighed about 6 tons (5440 kg, approx) was born in 1976 in a wild habitat, in Iceland. He was a young whale exploring parts of the ocean and learning basic tactics to hunt for a livelihood with his family. Killer whales always stay in groups (called pods) and they live with their families forever. Keiko was taken away by a whale Hunter when he was 2 years old and was sold to a large marine aquatica for 100,000 dollars. He lived most of his life in a marine mammal park in Mexico amid four concrete walls.

He was the most humble, loving and intelligent Orca that the Marine park had ever come across. He was trained to entertain the crowd with his unique stunts and a smiling face (or more so it looked like he was smiling). Keiko was hand fed in return of all his successful stunts, due to which he never learnt how to hunt. His trainers absolutely adored him for his gentle nature and swift yet humble behaviour. From being a wild Orca to being no less than a pet was one saddening journey he had been through.

Keiko had training sessions on a daily basis where he was entertained by his trainers and he seemed to have quite a good time, but during rest of the hours he used to swim through the pool completely pointless and bored, making whistling noises probably missing his family. Like other wild Orcas he couldn't enjoy the dept of the ocean or the joy of hunting, but the spirit of life was still glowing inside of him. 

After a few years of being captivated and entertaining the crowd, he was chosen by a well known production house to star in a movie which was later known as "Free Willy". This movie turned out to be a Blockbuster and he became a star overnight. The whole concept of the movie, was to show how a captivated whale becomes a little boy's pet and how they together embark on an amazing adventure at the end of which the boy rescues the whale and sends him back to the ocean. Sometimes I wish this fiction tale turned into Keiko's real life story.

Keiko had millions of fans across the globe, who wanted to see him set free into the ocean, but, it was impossible for him to adapt to a wild habitat after 22 years of being captivated, hand fed and lack of killer whale skills. But due to constant pressure from young fans, Warner Bros and some NGOs collectively took up the initiative to help Keiko to get back to his family. An artificial ecosystem was built for Keiko, investing millions of dollars and with great effort Keiko was shifted to his new home, "The whale rehabilitation centre". 

He got stronger at the rehabilitation centre. This time around he was trained to be a wild Orca. Small daily skills such as hunting for food and swimming extensively (Orcas cover around 200 km swimming every day) were being thought to him in his tenure there. Even with these many efforts and so much love from all across the world, Keiko was unable to adapt and learn these wildlife activities. Then, he was then taken to the wide open ocean and reunited with an Orca pod, hoping that he would learn some skills living with his own kind. But, instead of joining his new family Keiko drifted back to the boat repeatedly with his mouth wide open asking for food. He did stunts in midst of the gigantic ocean hoping that humans would give him something to eat. Think about it, a wild Orca who could have flipping and swirling in the ocean soaking in the joys of dwelling the wild ecosystem was performing stunts to earn some food.

With all hopes given up, his care takers took a step back, he was then adopted by another NGO who gave him the "hard love" treatment wherein they would ignore him when he asked for food so that he learns to hunt for a living. One night, during this stressful treatment, he escaped and wasn't to be found with the pod, the next day. Researchers assumed that he joined another pod and started a new life. I wish that was true.

On September 1, some days after his escape, Keiko was found near Norway. He had followed a boat probably in search of food. He was well treated by the people in Norway and was provided food by the locals. Some children even rode on his back. Couple of weeks later he was found dead as he couldn't sustain the cold weather and suffered from pneumonia (Whales are adapted to cold weather but as Keiko resided in an artificial environment for most of his life he couldn't withstand the weather).

You might wonder as to why I chose this topic for my first MAKE A CHANGE blog. Well, as human beings we always look for some kind of gratification in everything, some of our kind found that in Keiko, the result of which his life was never consistent. He couldn't enjoy the small things like wild Orcas, he never had a family and there was no one of his own kind who loved him. We travel countries and marine mammal parks, like the one Keiko lived in are one of our "to-visit" spots. We pay a certain amount, purchase tickets and contribute to this business. Even if we don't physically visit these places, we watch their videos on YouTube and other social media which encourages them to keep doing what they do. Keiko is one whale I have narrated story of, there are thousands of such animals in circuses and marine mammal parks that are living this life just because we are paying for them. Their intelligence and calm nature becomes contagious to them.

Many marine animals like dolphins, Orcas, seals are captivated in such places and used for entertainment. They self mutilate and harm themselves due to several reasons such as loneliness, boredom and restlessness. So today as part of MAKE A CHANGE, spare some time to write an e-mail to NGOs so that we can help put more pressure on the government to mark these acts as illegal. Two such NGOs are Sea-legacy and save-dolphins. I'll leave there contact e-mail down below, write your heart out. May be, this one e-mail saves a hundred innocent lives. Return them to their ecosystem. #MakeAChange with #TheDreamBox

E-mail: info@sealegacy.org and markjpalmer@earthisland.org

-    Shivangi U Mohite

Founder, Dream Box