Killer whales rehabilitation?

Just yesterday I released a post on COLOMBIA SCUBA about the tragic case of the killer whale trainer that was murdered by an orca named Tilikum, last week. I have read a few things about this matter since then, including opinions of people who claim for the captive killer whales to be released again into their natural habitat. I must confess I was of the same opinion, until I read an old article about a killer whale named Keiko on the website of dolphins-world.com.

Keiko was a very famous killer whale, but under the fictional name of Willy, the same whale of the movie called Free Willy. Well, so it happens this story was based on some true facts. The whale who's real name was Keiko, was indeed in a rehabilitation process. More amazingly, Keiko's readaptation to the natural environment was very difficult, and maybe even unsuccesfull, since the whale died of pneumonia after being released into the marine environment. According to dolphin-world.com [QUOTE]:

"Keiko's rehabilitation started in 1996, when he was transferred from Mexico to his new facility in Oregon. From 1996 to 2003, Keiko was taught the skills he would need to survive on his own, and he had even reached the point where he was in open waters, free to come and go as he liked. His rehabilitation was going very well, but unfortunately, Keiko died on December 12, 2003. The cause of death was pneumonia, combined with his advanced age. Keiko was about 26 years old. Research continues, and there is now a Keiko Foundation that is designed to help other captive Orca's return to the wilds. But research isn't limited to rehabilitation of captive Orcas. Orcas in the wilds are closely studied as well."

One of the leaders of Keiko's rehabilitation process was Jean-Michel Cousteau, the famous marine biologist and president of Ocean Futures Society. Just yesterday Cousteau made a very brief and new statement on behalf of the killer whales. According to him, Keiko's rehabilitation was an expensive effort paid for with private funding, and the results weren't very good. So in his new statement, Cousteau basically proposes to limit (or prohibit?) the further capture of this wild animals, and focus the efforts on that goal mainly, instead of thinking in the rehabilitation of the whales thar are in captivity already. Again, I agree. Thilo