Keiko buried in Halsa, Norway

Photo of Keiko's gravesite memorial in Taknes Bay,
on GoogleEarth by RSherman
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5990050

Keiko (many know him from Free Willy) is buried in Halsa, Norway
North of Kristiansund in Vagland region (Nordemoere - Central Norway)
After living in Taknesfjord/bay from Sept 2002 to Dec 2003

3 Articles in Norwegian newspaper at the time:
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article690508.ece

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article691549.ece

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article691382.ece

Copy of first article:
Norway mourns loss of Keiko
Pneumonia is being listed as the most likely cause of death for celebrity whale Keiko, who made Norway his home late last summer after surfacing in a western fjord. Local officials are calling Keiko's sudden demise "downright sad."
AVNINA BERGLUND

Keiko's minders noticed that he seemed ill on Thursday and stopped eating. He was found dead Friday evening after exhibiting signs that he was having trouble breathing.

"I think this is downright sad," Margrethe Saether, mayor of the local township of Halsa, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Saturday. "It is, at any rate, what we'd call a natural death. He initially seemed to have a cold, but when he was checked after darkness fell Friday, he was lying dead at the pier."

Officials cordoned off the area at Taknes Bay in Nordmoere, not far from Kristiansund, to keep the media and public away from Keiko's corpse. They said Keiko would either be brought up on land or towed out to open sea and slaughtered.

Keiko was thought to be in his mid-20s and had spent a quiet summer swimming around in the bay where he'd been relocated late last year. The move was made in an effort to protect him from the thousands of human well-wishers who flocked to the area to get a glimpse of him.

The bay is also known for attracting other wild orcas, and Keiko's minders from the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation had kept hoping he'd join up with them and return to the wild himself. After a lifetime in captivity, however, the whale who sprang to international fame in the movie "Free Willy" never showed any interest in being on his own.

Saether noted that Keiko was without a doubt her township's biggest celebrity. His death will likely stem the sudden surge of tourists who traveled to the remote area on Norway's northwestern coast to see him.

Keiko was initially captured off Iceland in 1979. He then spent years in various aquatic parks in North America before being moved back to Iceland in an effort to return him to the wild. He was released from an Icelandic fjord in the summer of 2002 and swam to Norway on his own, only to resurface off a local village and immediately attach himself to local residents who swam and fished in the area.

His antics proved an immediate tourist draw, prompting those who'd been working with him for years to move him to Taknes. They continued to care for him after attempts to reunite him with wild orcas failed, and last summer he was being fed as much as 40 kilos of herring every day.

Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund

Also read more at these links:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3700297/

or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_(orca)

His own webpage:
http://www.keiko.com/


YouTube tribute videos:
Free Willy - Will You Be There MJ song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEdgUnxawi8


RIP Keiko (Lucky one)