MovieChat Forums > Free Willy (1993) Discussion > The irony, oh the irony

The irony, oh the irony


Ok, lets take a step back and look at this for a moment. They capture the whale, and keep it in sunny hot florida for 20 years, then loads of tree hugging hippies get the whale freed at the price of 30 million dollars to cold and snowy iceland. Then the whale catches peumonia and dies. anybody see the irony?

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People keep bring that up, I don't know why. Keiko died from pneumonia, not something related to the wild. He could have caught pneumonia in his tank, for one thing. Now, people are saying that he shouldn't have been freed, but if he hadn't been freed then there would be people talking about how nice it would have been for him to live in the wild before he died. You just can't please the human race...
"Mares are from Venus, Stallions are from Mars, and Geldings are from Heaven."

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I think the real irony is the fact that a captive whale was forced to star in a film decrying keeping animals in captivity.

Give him a sedagive!

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" I think the real irony is the fact that a captive whale was forced to star in a film decrying keeping animals in captivity. "

That is kind of ironic, isn't it?
It's sad, the way they keep those whales in those itty bitty tanks. You ever hear about Lolita, the whale in Florida? She's the oldest orca in captivity, and millions of people, tons of famous people, even, Elton John and the like, want her released because her tank is almost four times too small...they refuse to let her go, thoughj....and they force her to keep performing...It's so sad...look it up online sometime and sign the petition to free her....

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You know what they should do, is process and can the whale, and let Elton John swim around in the tank.

"Then you leave me no choice than to play you in a game of hungry hungry hippos"

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"You ever hear about Lolita, the whale in Florida? She's the oldest orca in captivity, and millions of people, tons of famous people, even, Elton John and the like, want her released because her tank is almost four times too small...they refuse to let her go, though"


This is the kind of stuff that makes me hate it when celebrities pick up these socal causes and become hipocrytical weekend warriors for them. If Elton John really wanted this whale freed, it could be done. He could buy the whale. He could go to the park owner and say "Listen, if you free this whale I will play an hour show at your part every day of the summer for two years." and the owner would do it. He would make a ton of money having a daily Elton John concert at his park.

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im slitting your throat for that comment

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I just thought you should know that Keiko, (AKA "Willy" in the movie "Free Willy") was never in Florida at any time. He lived in Canada, Mexico, and Oregon, but NEVER Florida. All of us whale and "tree huggers" miss him very much. His death was a great loss that left a hole in all of our hearts~~~

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his name is keiko he lived in mexico for the most part not floida and many orcas that have been in captivity die of peumonia iceland was where he was captured and taken from his family. So keiko was very well equiped for where they released him he jsut couldnt fight off the vires becasue he had a weak immune system

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my facts arnt right., but its true that Keiko was going to the shore in Iceland in search of human contact! perhaps this was one whale who enjoyed the captivity. That is touching tho, he/she actually let locals in iceland pet him/her. :( rest in piece Keiko

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could well be but on the other hand maybe it is all he knew...being nearly 2 when caputerd he may not remeber anything from his wild mother exsept the pods calls witch all wild caught orcas remeber

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When you work with orcas dolphins and belugas they ALL become your family once you see the amount of love trust and inttelegents the whale has..mind you i dont like captivity but someone needs to look after then well they are here.
So for many of us it is like loesing a family member when a whale dies.
Plus if keiko had not been released he would have died many years befor he did..He was in a dolphin tank, not at all deep enough or big enough for a full grown orca let alone the biggest orca that has ever been in captivity.
thats all I have 2 say..for now

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The Hippie Granola's should have spent all the money they spent getting him 'freed' to get him a nice big tank in Sea World. Mind you, Keiko should have sued his manager -- his films made major cash and he got shafted. Always ask for a percentage of the Box Office Gross.

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One thing about a tank is that it is very noisy and Orcas cant use natural things like echo-location. Plus at the time when they were first freeing Kieko he had a virus that could be transferd to other Orcas and Sea Worlds tanks and large but when you take in to acount how many whales are in them they dont seems so big but i would rather see a group then one alone
thank god keiko at lest ahd some dolphins

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I must ask what you do for a living? Sounds like you work with sea life, or else you just have a great interest in it. Just curious...
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People always say to free the animals that have been captured but if all they know is life in captivity then that is not always a good idea. They might not know how to survive completely, I mean, it is a killer whale, but as far as fighting off disease, his immune system had to have been different by not being exposed to certain harmful things in the ocean in the first place. I don't see how freeing an animal is a good idea ALL THE TIME. If he was just captured maybe but wasn't he in captivity for like 20 years or something crazy like that? I think there were better things they could have done. Don't get me wrong, I believe they shouldn't have captured him in the first place, but that was over and done with a long time ago, they should have focused on providing the most perfect tank they could have.

The fact that he stuck around for human contact is not a good sign when releasing an animal into the wild. It seems like he didn't know what to do on his own. Maybe I am wrong but I am just thinking out loud.

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Hey was this a MOVIE or no?

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I do Work at a Marine park
and I agree it is difficult to relase animals that have only known captivity taking inot account keiko was captured at the age of around 1 year 8 months old yet still maintained his familys calls througout his whole life. I belive that for Keiko humanes became his pod because there were no other animals around of his own kind. But who knows if we did the right thing for keiko I think its better to die free then in a cement box lets face it his tank in marineland canada was small (the show pool for those who have been there) his tank in mexico was even smaller and in organ it was a great tank (for tank standards) but still all alone...In the wold he got to see his own kind for the first tame in 23 years

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