Should Killer Whales be allowed free will?

To answer your question, yes.

This poor guy has spent over 90% of his life interacting with humans and now the 'trainers' (who of course think they know best) have decided he should sever that contact and rejoin his fellow whales. Maybe he doesn't like whales. Maybe he's a ham and likes all the attention.

Willie shouldn't have been captured in the first place, but he was and after 20 years it's a little too late to try to correct that mistake.

There was a longish article in the New Yorker recently about Willie, when they didn't know where he was, and I felt just as bandylu does, and hoped he'd find a nice group of humans to fuss over him and spoil him. I'm glad he did.

Someone suggested that Keiko be put to sleep. I always thought that the project to set Keiko free was really dumb.

Gonna cross post this to the wildlife forum.

I'm not surprised that Keiko is boshy about learning from his handlers. I'm distressed that the handlers are not giving due attention to what Keiko is trying to teach them.

I've known several dogs--another pack/pod animal--who are convinced that they are Two Legs and other dogs are merely animals.

My thought is that the trainers should get a grip on reality, I mean, really. Its all well and good that he is allowed his freedom however, being captive for so long it would only be natural for him to associate and interact with humans...duh!
Im perfectly aware that this could be dangerous for him but, sounds like it might just be okay and a nice balance to what could have been otherwise a bad decision.

Keiko... not Willie, currently resides in Norway, and according to his current "trainers" he's going to stay at there still he dies. He's never going back to captivity and he isn't going to be put down. What gives you the right away to say if he should die or not, you don't know what he is thinking. I bet you he's so happy to be out there, in the limitless ocean. He was going to die in that tank in Mexico.

Keiko (and Springer) are heroes. Being captured by people, and making in the wild. When Keiko goes off with his pod, Lolita will be next, the public will be in a uproar when they hear about Lolita, being in worse conditions then Keiko, and the chances of her going back is much better, we know her pod and she knows her dialect.

Yes Keiko has been in captivity most of his life, but who's going to take that chance of him seeing his family again away from him? It's not like he wanted to go into captivity, he was dragged kicking a screaming from his mother. Keiko can and will go back, he was gone for 80 days with wild orcas before. What makes you think he won't do it again? Also they are waiting for the orca pods to come back, so they can take Keiko out to them. It's not like he isn't going, there is no one to go to.

Freedom for Keiko: Undoubtedly the Best!
Hi guys, and hi FreeLolita! Nice post there, I agree with you too. There are few orcas in captivity that live up to twenty years, and if Keiko was left in Reino Adventura or perhaps even Oregon he would be near the end of his lifespan. However, in the wild male orcas have a lifespan up to fifty years. Freedom for Keiko would give him a longer and better lease on life. In fact that is also one of the best arguments for releasing Lolita, since female orcas have an even longer natural lifespan, up to eighty years.

Vive les epaulards!

can anyone actually DENY keiko what he wants? I mean - he sounds like he has decided for himself!

That was exactly the point which had occurred to me, Lil' Bunny. Short of an enormous effort to "recapture" the critter, how does anyone propose they would thwart his will?

Some advocated the killing of Keiko. That would respresent a supression of his will.

It would.

In the same way that shooting me with a crossbow bolt would constitute an annoying challenge to my temper.