Newport may get new orca as guest.Byline: LARRY BACON The Register-Guard NEWPORT - Another killer whale killer whale or grampus, a large, rapacious marine mammal, Orcinus orca, of the dolphin family. Male killer whales may reach a length of 30 ft (9 m) and females half that length. may be moving into Keiko's old home. Federal fisheries officials this week asked the Oregon Coast Aquarium The Oregon Coast Aquarium is an aquarium in Newport, Oregon. if it could take on the rehabilitation of a 2-year-old female orca, and the aquarium said yes Friday. The National Marine Fisheries Service The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is a United States federal agency. A division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Commerce, NMFS is responsible for the stewardship and management of the nation's living marine hasn't decided yet if that's the route it will take to help an 11-foot whale in the Vashon Island Vash·on Island An island of west-central Washington in Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma. area of Puget Sound Puget Sound (py  `jĕt), arm of the Pacific Ocean, NW Wash., connected with the Pacific by Juan de Fuca Strait, entered through the Admiralty Inlet and extending in two arms c. , though the agency is expected to
decide soon.
Whale researchers and whale rescue groups have been tracking the orca for the past six weeks. The animal remains in shallow water See:
"It's very similar to the situation with Keiko, where we were able to respond to a request for him to come to our facility," said aquarium President Phyllis Bell. "The Oregon Coast Aquarium has formally responded to the National Marine Fisheries Service, and we're awaiting their decision on our offer to help with the whale's care and rehabilitation." If the Puget Sound whale comes to the aquarium, it is expected to stay only long enough to be rehabilitated for return to the wild, Bell said. The aquarium gained international fame for its rehabilitation work on behalf of Keiko, the whale star of the "Free Willy" movie. Keiko lived at the aquarium from January 1996 through September 1998 in a 2 million-gallon tank. Keiko, who arrived with a number of health problems after living in a small, warm pool at a Mexico City Mexico City Spanish Ciudad de México City (pop., 2000: city, 8,605,239; 2003 metro. area est., 18,660,000), capital of Mexico. Located at an elevation of 7,350 ft (2,240 m), it is officially coterminous with the Federal District, which occupies 571 sq mi amusement park, thrived and put on more than 1,000 pounds. Later, he was airlifted to a net pen in Iceland, where he's being groomed for possible release to the wild. The aquarium spent millions of dollars to buy out the Free Willy Keiko Foundation's rights to the huge tank and convert it to its premier attraction - "Passages of the Deep." Visitors to the attraction travel through a 200-foot underwater tunnel through three distinct ocean environments. Bell said if the young whale comes to the aquarium, it would first be housed in one of the holding tanks for the "Passages" exhibit, then moved into the 850,000-gallon "Open Sea" tank, the largest in "Passages." The sharks that now live in the "Open Sea" tank would move because of the possible danger they would pose to the whale. |
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