Why Freeing Willy Was the Wrong Thing To Do

[lock_washer]

Saw this article on ABC News Website:

Unable to Fit In With His Own, The Real 'Free Willy' Was Better Off Among People, Researchers Find

Why Freeing Willy Was the Wrong Thing To Do - ABC News

I wish Jean-Michel Cousteau of Ocean Adventures and the Earth Island Institute would read this article. They were so arrogant to prove that you could free a long term captive orca, that they wasted 20 million dollars, and the end resuts was an animal that didn't want to be freed. Sadly Keiko died next to a dock...in the company of people he preferred to be with.

The money, and effort would have been better spent on other more important marine life issues.

Lock Washer

 

[DA Aquamaster]

You are speaking with the benefit of 20/20 hind sight. It seemed like a good idea at the time and it was, it just didn't work out.

Calling it "arrogant" is a bit harsh and misguided.

 

[lock_washer]

If you saw the last Jean-Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures Special: Call of the Killer Whale. He sure patted himself on the back on how good of a job they did returning Keiko to the wild. Of course they didn't mention about all the ligation between the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Earth Island Instititue, and Humane Society. Also how the original trainers in charge of Keiko's rehab were fired because they realized that it wasn't going to work to release Keiko. The animal didn't want to be freed...and in the end died next to a dock. I don't call that a successful release to freedom.

Lock Washer

 

[drbill]

Certainly some question about the release here as well, but as was mentioned you have the benefit of hindsight. Having known Jean-Michel as a personal friend for over 30 years, I would not call him arrogant. I fully believe he hoped for the very best result. Had this worked, it could have paved the way for future releases of captive animals into the wild.

I still have a Christmas card from Dr. Richard Murphy, Jean-Michel's science and education man, of him riding Keiko in the tank in Iceland. These are not people who would intentionally harm such a critter.

 

[Underwater Ogre]

I had a difficult time watching all of the documentary, finally I had to turn it off. I am very close to the "ground"...water where some of the information that was given was very skewed. I guess negative sells air time....its too bad someone didn't do a bit more research in a few areas.
I was a big fan and supporter of the Cousteau's but I am just not quite sure about Jean Michel.

U/O

 

[lock_washer]

Okay to use the word "arrogant" I will admit is wrong. But you have to agree that lot of things got overhyped and sensationized in trying to rehab and release Keiko back into the wild. Plus the money spent, which would have better benefit other enviromental causes. I watched some of the Ocean Adventures Special, and to me they seem dumbed down, and sometimes no different from a reality show compared to the original Jacques Cousteau Documentaries, National Geographic Specials, or the old Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom.

Lock Washer

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Now that's kinda funny. There is no way you can compare the old Cousteau specials and the old National Geoprahic specials with Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. We had a Marlin Perkins fan club in college and would celebrate such memorable scenes such Marlin running back to the helicopter (a Bell 47G) while leaving Jim Fowler knee deep in mud with the crocodile Marlin just let go of. Jim Fowler had to be the bravest man ever to work with Marlin around dangerous critters.

But I agree with you, many of today's documentaries are way too dumbed down and are often biased toward what sells or toward current social/political thinking. If a survey ever says the majority of Americans support torture, the history channel will probably have a special on the glorious history of torture in the war against evil and the discovery channel will have a special on the science behind torture in the war on terror within about a month.

The attempted release did not work, but it was important to establish that it could not work. The way way science works, you often learn more from your failures than from your successes and the failed experiment with Keiko has had a positive impact on how people view the issue of captive marine mammals since then.

 

[lock_washer]

I have always been a big supporter of zoos and aquariums. I do believe in their educational value, and the ability to provide the public on a larger scale to see the animal live. In reality, you can't not expose that many people to the animal's enviroment to see it without affecting the animal's behavior or being a detriment to the enviroment. There are some facilities that should not be displaying marine mammals. The majority of them are outside of the US, and don't have the expertise, or husbandry ability to maintain marine mammals. But sadly, the way we are affecting the ocean enviroment, the aquariums are going to be the last refuge for some marine mammals. The Chinese river dolphin - "The Baija" just went extinct. The Chinese are taking the last of the finless porpoise into captivity to save it.

Lock Washer

 

[drbill]

Underwater Ogre... care to elaborate a bit so we know where you are coming from?

As for the over-hyping and dumbing down, unfortunately that is to address the mass audience. It's the same as the way news has been treated as entertainment now. Very sd. I've produced a 22-episode show for cable TV that may be "too educational" to sell (as I've been told by more than one viewer). Sad commentary on the public.

 

[lock_washer]

Well guys, will pass this bit of insight from my last 8 years working at one of the major movie studios...unfortunately, I got laid off 4 weeks ago. Instead of my job going to India: my job is staying, except for they are hiring Indian Contractors to do my job for 5K a year...isn't the corporate world wonderful?

It use to be that you were able to watch new TV shows from September to May...about 39 episodes in a season. However due to production costs, actor's pay, and writer's pay, the studios started to cut it down to 33 episodes, and down to 26, and eventually it got down to 22 episodes in a season. They would order 13 episodes at first, and if the show caught on, they would film the last episodes to round it out to 22 episodes for a "full season". Due to the competition between all four networks (Fox included) and cable tv being a factor: a show has catch on within the first 2 or 3 episodes, or its canceled. With only 22 episodes in a season, you always rerunning episodes (or what they call an encore viewing), plus shows go on hiatus all the time, they change timeslots, and the writer's strike didn't help. With all these factors, it is really hard for a show to be a hit. A hit means viewership, and that means money...the bottomline. I use to work next door to the scripts deparment, and talked to those people who transcribed the scripts for TV shows and movies. Jokenly I would ask if they see any good scripts? There response was the same thing: nothing but crap. Constant remakes of previous movies, and same type of TV scripts for multiple crime scene shows. There is no originality anymore in Hollywood. The reason why reality shows are so big, particullary like Survivor, American Idol, and Dancing with the Stars: you don't have to pay writers, or actors. So its true what they say: Television has became a vast wasteland. The only place to really find anything educational is PBS.

Lock Washer