Whale Star Of `Free Willy' Film Arrives Via UPS -- Crowds Of Parents, Kids Greet Keiko On His Way To Oregon Coast Aquarium

NEWPORT, Ore. - After a whale of a journey, the star of the movie "Free Willy" received a warm welcome to his new home yesterday.

The heavy rain that had fallen all day stopped minutes before the giant C-130 cargo jet carrying Keiko the killer whale touched down about 2:45 p.m.

The ailing whale, who has performed the past 10 years in a small tank at a Mexico City amusement park, made the 8 1/2-hour flight without any serious problems.

"Keiko's doing just great," said Phyllis Bell, executive director of the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Keiko's new owners hope to rehabilitate him so he can someday be returned to the wild, just like the whale in the movies.

Families traveled hundreds of miles to get a glimpse of Keiko as he was moved from the Newport Airport to the custom-built, 2 million-gallon tank where he will live at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Cars and minivans packed with parents and children lined the highway.

Marlene and Roger Shipley brought their four children from Mill City, east of Salem.

"The kids have both movies and they watch them continuously," Marlene Shipley said. "They talked their dad into bringing them down for this."

Caitlin Waite, 5, who came with her family from Beaverton, said she was glad Keiko had a nicer place to live.

"Now he has a big tank with water just like they have in the ocean," she said.

Pam Lawson and her three children left Portland at 6 a.m. and waited all day for Keiko's arrival.

"We've been following this story all along. We're fascinated by it," she said. "He's ill and he needs a special place like this."

United Parcel Service, touting its biggest delivery ever, arranged for the chartered cargo jet to carry Keiko in a giant container filled with water. Because of the 42,000-pound cargo, the plane had to make refueling stops in Monterrey, Mexico, and Phoenix.

The 7,000-pound whale, believed to be 16 to 17 years old, was hoisted into his container tank at the Reino Aventura amusement park, then was driven by truck to the airport. People lined the highway to wave goodbye.

There was a two-hour delay in Keiko's departure while the ground crew maneuvered the giant container into the plane.

At Phoenix, crews replaced 2,000 gallons of water in the tank and added 2 tons of ice cubes to keep the water cold.

Though flabby from life in his small Mexico City pool, Keiko is about 2,000 pounds underweight. He has a wart-like skin virus, a weakened immune system and digestive problems. His teeth are bad from chewing on the sides of his pool.

His new home is four times the size of his old one and is filled with cold, purified sea water instead of warm chlorinated freshwater. A concrete beach allows Keiko to haul himself out of the water, and an artificial reef gives him a place to scratch. He'll be fed 300 pounds of restaurant-quality fresh fish each day.

Keiko was captured as a youngster off Iceland in 1979. He lived in an aquarium there until 1982, when he began performing at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Canada. Reino Aventura bought him for $350,000 in 1985.

Warner Bros. cast him to star in the first "Free Willy" film in 1992.

The success of the film focused attention on Keiko's poor living conditions, and Reino Aventura agreed to donate him to Earth Island Institute of San Francisco.

More than $7 million in private funds have been raised for the project to move Keiko. Children at Northwest Elementary School in Tampa, Fla., raised $30,000.

Keiko's performing days are over. Visitors will be able to watch him in his new home, although the aquarium was closed to the public yesterday.

The ideal goal is to return Keiko to his pod, or family, off Iceland. But because he's been in captivity for nearly his entire life, that might not be possible. If he can't be free, Keiko will live out his life in his new tank.