Death
Keiko died in Taknes Bay, Norway while under the care of personnel from The Free Willy-Keiko Foundation on December 12, 2003, at about 27 years of age. Pneumonia was later determined as his probable cause of death. Following requests from fans of the orca and Free Willy, the Oregon Coast Aquarium held a memorial service for him on February 20, 2004. 700 people attended the service, during which Thomas Chatterton, a veterinary chaplain said, "Keiko was not one of our kind but nonetheless, was still one of us."
There is a memorial site for Keiko set up by the locals in Halsa, Norway. Norwegian school children built a stone cairn to mark the spot where he is buried.
Read more about this topic: Keiko (orca)
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“The only way out is the way through, just as you cannot escape from death except by dying. Being unable to write, you must examine in writing this being unable, which becomes for the present—henceforth?—the subject to which you are condemned.”
—Howard Nemerov (1920–1991)
“Yea, worse than death: death parts both woe and joy:
From joy I part, still living in annoy.”
—Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)