keiko

heard the news about keiko? if you are like keiko who? its keiko the orca (whale) from free willy. now with me and my interest in whales and dolphins, of course like many other people i'm interested in keiko's welfare.
poor keiko is in such a quandry i wish i were a multi-zillionaire so i could just whisk him back to my house in a large enough pen ;p alright actually i'd probably put him in a sea pen where he is free to come and go as he likes.
why oh why would i put him back in captivity? i'm not some freakish animal torturer sort of person, i try to adhere to the teachings that says kill nothing and harm nothing.
however in the case of this world's favorite whale i think it is merited. keiko is no longer wild. that is a fact... his story is like that of my best friends.
she was taken to a family different to that from which she was born. 14 years later (in keiko's case 22) she was asked to go back to the family where came from, now after so long she barely knows (in fact doesn't know) this other family at all and of course kicked up a huge ass fuss to stay exactly where she was. sure, keiko was not born by humans... he's an orca, no duh! but after two years in the wild, he was raised by humans, cared for by humans and friends with humans, for 22 years. could one truly ask this child of the humans to 'return to the wild'? i'd expect keiko to not want to leave the familiarity of his surroundings for 22 years. i would not be surprised.

in the case of the custody of a child, the child can be asked who does s/he want to go with, father or mother. keiko should be given the opportunity to choose too... be wild or be with humans, he is after all, above 18 years of age. i feel that he has indicated his choice. he prefers to be with humans. thus his choice should be respected. he should be kept in a sea pen (like the one they have now in iceland) and allowed to interact with humans in a controlled manner (not like now where accidents can happen). it might anger the 'green' people to think that keiko is not free. but then again, being 'free' does not necessarily mean wild. being 'free' can also mean having your choices respected. like it or not, he is saying he likes to be with humans.