Re: RE: A lot can happen in a week....

[Guest guest]

Gerald Newport wrote:

> When I got home from my trip, I learned in short order...

>

> Keiko, the " Free Willy " whale, died. I still have a papier mache

> whale costume that I made in 1993 after seeing the first movie six

> times. He was buried on land and I hope to visit his grave in Norway

> on some future trip.

Yes, I read about that. The story, for those that do not know, was that

after the movie, Keiko (Japanese for " lucky one " ) was in a small tank in

(IIRC) Mexico, and people began to wonder about the whale whose story

was not unlike the fictional movie. They tried to free Keiko offshore

of Iceland, hoping he would begin to hang out with his own kind and join

a nice pod, but he instead swam due east to Norway, where he

continuously sought out human companionship.

The authorities tried to get people to leave Keiko alone, hoping that

without human friends, he would get lonely and seek out other killer

whales, but that never happened. He became depressed and was given food

(as it seemed that he was not feeding adequately on his own), and he

died as essentially a free domestic whale, of pneumonia. It was a big

disappointment to many that he was never able (or willing, really) to

reintegrate into the wild after a long time in captivity.

> i, my male Fischer's Lovebird, died last wednesday. He appeared

> on my porch, doing lunch with my parakeets, in June of 1998.

Sorry to read that. I remember a movie about a conure called ie--

was your bird named for him by any chance?