Keiko's Failed Wild Release

Keiko, the orca who starred in the 1993 film Free Willy, became the focus of an international effort to return him to the wild. After years of rehabilitation in Oregon, crews transported him to Iceland in 1998 and released him into the open sea in 2002. Instead of joining wild pods, he repeatedly sought out humans and followed boats, showing he had not fully adapted to life in the wild. In December 2003, about a year after his release, he died of pneumonia in Norway.

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