If you remember the movie Free Willy and the fate of Keiko, the killer whale featured in the movie, you might be interested in the book Friday's Harbor, written by Diane Hammond, press secretary for Keiko. It's a sequel to another book, Hannah's Dream, but made sense on its own (I never read Hannah's Dream but was still able to fully enjoy this book). It's a nicely written fictional tale of the struggle to do what's right for a whale in the decision between captivity and freedom. On one end of the spectrum there are those who feel that captivity is never ever ever good for animals. On the other are those who profit from capturing animals for show. But there's a huge middle ground where what's best for the animal isn't necessarily freedom, and those who love the animal can still maintain its captivity. This book does a good job exploring those issues.
I had a chance to interview the author to learn more.
Why do
you think there was such a large outcry regarding Keiko's conditions?
Ironically, it was Keiko’s over-the-top popularity in
Mexico that finally convinced Reino Aventura, the Mexico City amusement park
where he spent nearly 15 years, to release him to a facility where he could be
brought back to good health and a better life. He’d been too big for his small
pool for years; when he lowered his tail flukes to the bottom, his head was
still above water. His diet consisted of whatever fish could be purchased most
cheaply, regardless of its nutritional value. And the water was warm because it
lacked adequate chilling equipment. As a result, he was two thousand pounds
underweight, and had skin lesions that indicated a compromised immune system.
But even once Reino Aventura had decided to give Keiko
away, it wasn’t an easy matter to relocate Keiko, especially since he was in rapidly
deteriorating health. Because he might have had a disease that could spread to
other killer whales with whom he shared a pool, every facility with an existing
killer whale collection refused to jeopardize its animals by taking him in. And
then there was the very real matter of money: who would pay to transport him?
Who would pay for a new facility to be built just for him? Who would risk
having the killer whale die in transit, or shortly after arriving in his new
pool? These were only some of the complications that meant Keiko waited years
before finally being taken to a brand-new pool complex by the Oregon Coast
Aquarium.
How did you end up as Keiko's press secretary?
It was sheer dumb luck. I was the public relations
person at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in tiny Newport, Oregon, where Keiko would
ultimately live. The aquarium had only been open for three years, and never
intended to house a high-profile killer whale—or any whale or dolphin, for that
matter. For that very reason, no animals would be in jeopardy if he was brought
to us. A brand-new, multi-million-dollar pool was built on the Aquarium’s
wide-open footprint in just eleven months.
We had no idea that we were about to become home to an
international superstar. It was only as the media from around the world called
for arrival details that we understood what a Pandora’s box we were opening. I
was the only public relations staff member, so I was the contact, shepherd and
host for more than 500 media outlets. Talk about trial by fire!
How did working with Keiko inspire this
novel?
For two years, in all weather and nearly
seven days a week, I stood on the top of Keiko’s pool and narrated his story to
the international press corp. It was a love-fest for me and for them. What
writer wouldn’t give his eyeteeth to watch Keiko’s new life unfolding, thanks
to the incredible men and women who brought him back to not just good health
but vitality?
When it came time to return to the little
town of Bladenham and the Max L. Biedelman Zoo I first wrote about in “Hannah’s
Dream,” I couldn’t imagine a better story than one in which a killer whale
figured front and center. The challenge was to closely model the killer whale
at the center of “Friday’s Harbor” on Keiko, and yet to give him to a
completely fictional cast of characters and a very different set of challenges
and hurdles.
If you're interested in meeting Diane and live in the Twin Cities, she'll be at Common Good Books on Snelling Ave. November 6th at 7 pm.
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