From Captivity to the Wild and Back: An Attempt to Release Keiko the Killer Whale

Authors

M. Simon, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, P. O. Box 570, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland
M. B. Hanson, NOAA Fisheries
L. Murrey, Moeller Design and Development
J. Tougaard, National Environmental Research Institute
F. Ugarte, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources

Date of this Version

2009

Comments

Published in MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE.

Abstract

A number of cetaceans have been released into the wild, with research or the improved welfare of the individuals in question as the main goal. In a few cases, releases have been monitored with methods such as telemetry or photo-identification (Gales andWaples 1993, Veit et al. 1997,Wells et al. 1998, Reynolds et al. 2000). As a rule, the animals released successfully into the wild had been captive for relatively short periods of time (e.g., 2 yr, Wells et al. 1998), were held in sea pens rather than concrete tanks, and some were released in the company of conspecifics (Veit et al. 1997, Wells et al. 1998). We describe here the last phases of a project aimed at releasing a single killer whale that had been captured as a calf, raised in tanks and kept isolated from conspecifics during most of his life.