The Marine Mammal Protection Act requires the release of beached or stranded cetaceans within six months of capture or import. Extensions may be given up to 24 months, at which time a presumption is made that the animal is unreleasable.
Choices then are euthanasia or public display for the rest of the animal's life.
Tim Desmond, international animal-parks consultant, and his partner, Gail Laule, who trained Keiko in Mexico for his Free Willy performance, oppose his release. Once Keiko gets to Iceland, the Free Willy Keiko Foundation and the Icelandic government will decide what happens next. Scores of reporters have beached themselves upon Oregon's shore this week to chronicle the departure of Oregon's biggest movie star, just as they did when he arrived from Mexico in January 1996. The public loves the idea of nature imitating Hollywood fiction, and Keiko's move to Iceland is the most ambitious step in the storied quest to free Willy. In focusing on the script, however, the media and public have largely ignored a couple of troubling questions involved with releasing a captive cetacean into an ocean playpen.