What happened to the orca in Free Willy? The true story of Keiko, which many have already forgotten

The story behind one of the most popular children’s classics of the 90s, ‘Free Willy’, hides a truth that many have forgotten.

The orca who played the main character, Keiko, spent most of her life under human care, but she didn’t have the happy ending everyone expected.

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The history of the orca from ‘Free Willy’

Keiko’s life began in the 1970s, when he was captured in Iceland and taken to live in amusement parks in Canada and Mexico. He was trained by Sylvia Torner, who commented on her experiences with the whale in an interview.

In the 1990s, Keiko was given the lead role in the film ‘Free Willy’, in which an orca is freed after years of captivity. Despite his guardians’ concerns about the film’s message, it was released in 1993 and was a box office success.

As expected, this production caused a wave of sympathy for the whale, and the “Free Keiko” campaign appeared all over the world, thus forcing plans for his new life in the ocean.

Liberation and subsequent death

Despite efforts to free Keiko, her adaptation to the wild was unsuccessful. “They opened the door for him and Keiko didn’t leave. Groups of whales passed by and pushed him away. He never learned to hunt for food on his own,” Sylvia told Business Insider Mexico.

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The whale eventually managed to join a pod of orcas and disappeared from sight in 2002, but was found playing with humans on the beaches of Norway soon after, proving that he considered them family and home.

According to GQ, orcas live for about 35 years, but Keiko, having been in captivity for so long, did not survive and died on December 12, 2003 of what is believed to be pneumonia at the age of 27.

Specialist Sylvia Torner emphasizes that the decision to release an animal should not be taken lightly. “Keiko’s story was a chronicle of a foretold death, because you knew what could happen,” he lamented.

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