Free Willy!

Plot:
Fishermen separate a young orca whale (Willy) from his parents and he ends up in a fish bowl at a marina. Meanwhile, a street kid runs afoul of the law and gets caught vandalising the marina, but his social worker gets him off the hook (so to speak) provided he cleans up his mess at the marina. While there, he befriends the whale and teaches him tricks, something the trainer hasn't been able to do. But when Willy is a dud in front of the audience, the marina owner plans some bad things with the whale, and the boy and his friends must try to  free Willy.
F U N   F A C T:
The movie was about releasing a "killer whale" from the hands of humans who were exploiting him, and who wished to kill him to collect the insurance money. While the fictional whale was released, what happened to the actual whale, the actor? This was, after all, a pretty ironic situation. Many moviegoers began asking this question, and eventually the real "Willie," named Keiko, was released into the ocean.

Orcas, or killer whales, are the largest of the dolphins and one of the world's most powerful predators. They feast on marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, and even whales, employing teeth that can be four inches long. They are known to grab seals right off the ice. They also eat fish, squid, and seabirds.

Though they often frequent cold, coastal waters, orcas can be found from the polar regions to the Equator.

Killer whales hunt in deadly pods, family groups of up to 40 individuals. There appear to be both resident and transient pod populations of killer whales. These different groups may prey on different animals and use different techniques to catch them. Resident pods tend to prefer fish, while transient pods target marine mammals. All pods use effective, cooperative hunting techniques that some liken to the behavior of wolf packs.

Whales make a wide variety of communicative sounds, and each pod has distinctive noises that its members will recognize even at a distance. They use echolocation to communicate and hunt, making sounds that travel underwater until they encounter objects, then bounce back, revealing their location, size, and shape.

Killer whales are protective of their young, and other adolescent females often assist the mother in caring for them. Mothers give birth every three to ten years, after a 17-month pregnancy.

Orcas are immediately recognizable by their distinctive black-and-white coloring and are the intelligent, trainable stars of many aquarium shows. Killer whales have never been extensively hunted by humans.

World Range & Habitat

Next to humans, orca are the most widely distributed mammal. Orca inhabit all oceans of the world but are most numerous in the Arctic, the Antarctic and areas in nutrient-rich cold water upwellings. They have been sighted along the shores of Washington, Oregon, California, Baja California, and along the eastern coast of the United States.

Effects of Captivity:

Whales in captivity usually live shorter lives than those in the wild. They also have a lack of stimulation and a lack of space in which to travel. As marine mammologist Naomi Rose says in an interview with PBS, orcas ("killer whales") can travel between 50 and 100 miles in a single day. They are large-brained animals that need space and complex stimulation, which only the ocean can provide.
Rose explains that female orcas often die in captivity while they are still in their reproductive years. This is extremely rare in the wild. The UK division of the World Wildlife Fund agrees that in captivity, orcas' lives are much shorter. "It can survive between 50 and 80 years in the wild, yet in captivity its lifespan is drastically reduced to perhaps only 10 years---if that," says the WWF-UK.

Expert Insight

Former dolphin trainer Rick O'Barry, who trained dolphins for the TV series "Flipper," says that captive orcas and dolphins are "so stressed out you wouldn't believe it." As the Humane Society of the United States and the World Society for the Protection of Animals say in their report "The Case Against Marine Animals in Captivity," captivity causes marine mammals to lose their natural feeding and foraging behaviors. Captivity also changes their social behaviors. The report explains, "Stress-related conditions such as ulcers, stereotypical behaviors including pacing and self-mutilation, and abnormal aggression in groups frequently develop in predators denied the opportunity to forage. Other natural behaviors, such as those associated with dominance, mating, and maternal care, are altered in captivity, which can have a substantially negative impact on the animals." Animals that are normally peaceful in their natural environment can become violent when confined.