#free Willy

[mockingnerd]

Like so many of us orca nerds in the 90s, I followed Keiko’s life closely. I still have a folder full of newspaper clippings from every stage of his rehabilitation journey, and recently rewatched an old documentary I used to have on repeat. It got me thinking about how special he was and I wanted to do a tribute, so: here he is surrounded by mountain avens, the national flower of Iceland, his original home.

[trua23]

Keiko breaching in Iceland

[likeawildthing]

i was up at 4:30 this morning thinking of tshirt designs i need to make

[wonderoften]

[finndoesntwantthis]

Will is too happy and sweet to be dealing with Don and his stupid fake family 🥺

[catspawcreates]

Hi lights from my live community event on Magma and TikTok! Free Kill Code (Free Willy style) is cracking me up.

[orcinus-veterinarius]

Some people already said that with Keiko. Though tech he was no longer in the sea pen. -_-

Very true unfortunately ☹️ a lot of people have also convinced themselves that he was actually just fine out there and use him as a poster child for why releases work.

It’s possible releasing him killed him. He was only in the wild for about a year before he died, and he was never a robustly healthy whale. But his cause of death was pneumonia, something that routinely kills both wild and managed cetaceans. He was also 27, close to the average life expectancy of 30 years for male orcas (though they can and do live longer, and nowadays there are multiple 30+ year old male orcas in human care).

To me, the real tragedy of Keiko isn’t that he died. That’s a big part of it—I still do think he would’ve lived longer if he hadn’t been released. It’s that he died alone. This incredibly social animal died alone because people decided it was better for him to die in an attempt to reunite him with wild orcas than to let him have the company of humans—which is what he wanted.

[oldshowbiz]

Free Willy Condom: Extra Strength

[nr1rattlesfan]

"These are my comfort movies" and then half of them includes stuff with no comfort in them

[whowouldwininafite]

[cobrakai84]

Another song from my childhood that gives me cobra Kai vibes (this time for Robby)

[90smovies]

[fl4shfl00d]

I'm not even sorry

[annieqattheperipheral]

Can't believe i had to work this morn and didn't get to experience my heart POUNDING OUT OF MY CHEST with you all for this😭😭

WILLY!!!😁😚💙💙💙

our baby in sweden now that's a Free Willy🐳

[brazaesthetic]

Free Willy na Sessão da Tarde, Rede Globo (1999)

[coverteyes]