Keiko

The Bay Pen Since arriving in Iceland on September 10, 1998, Keiko has been housed in a floating bay pen in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland. The pen in Klettsvik Bay is larger than any previous facility, and has allowed Keiko to experience his native Icelandic waters for the first time since his capture more than twenty years ago. Made of foam injected PVC pipe and special netting, the floating pen has allowed Keiko to continue learning behavioral activities he will need to survive in the wild. As part of his ongoing training in the bay pen, Keiko has been learning to go through a gate, which will be used to allow him to go from the bay pen into the larger netted Klettsvik Bay. An identical gate will ultimately be used when Keiko takes his first ocean "walk" outside the bay. These ocean "walks" will help Keiko acclimate to the natural ocean environment and may result in an encounter with a pod of wild orcas. If this happens, it is unknown whether - or when -- he will choose to join them in the wild or return with the escort boat.

The Netted Bay The enclosed portion of Klettsvik Bay is approximately the size of twenty soccer fields. This larger bay environment will provide him with his first interaction with the ocean floor since his capture. Here, Keiko will continue his rehabilitation. The specially fabricated barrier net is 260 meters long and 33 feet deep. It is anchored in place with more than 128,000 pounds of chain, several ten ton anchors, and rock bolts drilled into the bay's cliff walls.

Making the Move: Why It Matters Moving Keiko from the floating bay pen into the larger bay is critical for Keiko's potential reintroduction into his natural ocean environment. Swimming in the safety of Klettsvik Bay, Keiko will be able to increase his stamina and frequency and depth of diving, as well as the amount of time he spends underwater. Keiko's trainers will also continue to increase and approximate natural feeding patterns. Keiko has gone from being completely dependent on dead fish hand-fed at the surface, to retrieving up to 40% of his own food primarily in the water column. While in the larger bay, Keiko's health will continue to be monitored by veterinary staff on a regular basis. ###

In addition, according to the Ocean Futures web site, (http://209.15.45.127/keiko_story2.html):

1997: In August, Keiko was offered live fish to eat for the first time in 18 years. While at first he did not eat them, he hunted and brought them back to his staff with increasing adeptness. At the end of a three-week trial period, he had caught and eaten at least one black cod on his own initiative. Filtration maintenance brought the program to an end until live fish were reintroduced again in February 1998.

By April 1998 Keiko was hunting, killing and eating live steelhead trout weighing from three to 12 pounds, eating up to half his daily food this way. He continued to be given thawed, dead herring, squid and capelin at the same time. ***

It will be important for Keiko to communicate with his wild counterparts. Fortunately he appears able to do so. Quoting the Discovery Online report (http://www.discovery.com/indep/newsfeatures/keiko/keiko.html):

"Using a computer program to compare Keiko's calls to recordings of wild whales, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute researcher Bill Watkins has confirmed that Keiko "still speaks North Atlantic killer whale," Foster says."