Trivia: Did You Know?

Orcas are actually the largest of the dolphins, not a whale.

Orcas are mammals in the cetacean family, which include dolphins, porpoises, and whales. The term whale is commonly used to describe the larger cetaceans, and orcas are small compared to most whales, but larger than any dolphin. Dolphins and whales are very similar, but technically, whales have baleen and dolphins have teeth. Baleen are rows of plates in the upper jaw. They are flat, flexible plates with frayed edges, arranged in two parallel rows, and look like combs of thick hair.

Want to learn more?

• You can learn all about cetaceans here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetacea

• You can learn more specifically about orcas here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orcas

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/killer-whale.html

• A very child friendly site all about orcas:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/CreatureFeature/Orca

Don't forget to go to Keiko.com and The Humane Society of the United States for more information on Keiko.

NRDC: Whale of a Win: Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Population Listed As Endangered

Joshua Records LLC is pleased to share with you that the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) announced the National Marine Fisheries Service long-awaited decision to list the Cook Inlet beluga whale population as "endangered" under the federal Endangered Species Act. NRDC Action Fund activists submitted 118,000 comments to help win protections for the whales.

Go to the NRDC website for the entire Article. It is the 3rd article down the page.
http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/nrdc-action-fund-press-room.html

Keiko's Dream Now on Facebook

You can further support the Keiko's Dream project by becoming a fan on Facebook for Keiko's Dream...Keiko's Legacy (the true story of the star of Free Willy)!

Simply go to Keiko's Dream Facebook and join as a fan.

'Keiko' Instrumental Music Single Released

Now Available!
Joshua Records, LLC has released the instrumental music single titled 'Keiko', the inspirational piece that sets the stage for the upcoming documentary.

Join Theresa and the amazing musicians highlighted below as they take you on a journey that captures the beauty and intensity of Keiko's journey.

This song has been a long time in the making. The inspiration for Theresa began in 1996 when she was recovering from her second round of breast cancer. Her recovery coincided with Keiko's, a blessing that Theresa is sure helped her to have the strength to keep going.

As Theresa lay in bed, unsure of her future, she was inspired by the strength and determination of the Keiko project. Keiko was being transported from Mexico to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and Theresa became enthralled in his story. "If Keiko can make it, I can make it." As she gained strength, she visited him several times at the aquarium, and felt an instant bond.

Life continued on for Theresa, and then when spending time with her teenage niece, Marely, she was inspired to complete the song. But she wanted to capture the voice of Keiko. This is where Renato Caranto comes in to the story. "I asked Renato to capture the voice of Keiko, and he did, perfectly. It all just came together."

The single includes these talented artists. View their biographies on the Good Company page of the website.

Renato Caranto - Saxophone
Tim Ellis - Guitar
Reinholdt Meltz - Drums
Jaman Swanson – Bass
Jean-Pierre Garau - Piano

Dr. Paul Spong Interviewed for the Keiko's Dream... Keiko's Legacy

We had the honor and privilege of interviewing Dr. Paul Spong for the Keiko’s Dream … Keiko’s Legacy (the true story of the star of Free Willy) upcoming documentary. Dr. Spong is the founder of OrcaLab, a small land based whale research station nestled against the evergreen forest of Hanson Island in the waters of the "Inside Passage" of northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

The work of OrcaLab is centered around the philosophy that it is possible to study wild animals without interfering with their lives or habitat. OrcaLab's work also includes vital conservation issues - preservation of orca habitat, release and rehabilitation of captive cetaceans, and bringing to an end the dismal era of commercial whaling.

Dr. Spong was a consultant during Keiko’s amazing rehabilitation and release efforts. We were able to capture, through a several hour-long interview, his views on Keiko’s project as well as the hopes of releasing other captive orcas back into the wild. He is truly an expert in his arena, so we gathered as much factual and informative material as we could. It was a wonderful experience, and more than once there were tears in the eyes of the entire crew!

Dr. Spong will now join Mark Berman, Associate Director of the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, and Dr. Naomi Rose, the marine mammal scientist for The Humane Society of the United States in a journey that takes us from Keiko’s capture to his passing in 2003. And what a journey it will be!

We thank you for your continued interest!
Joshua Records, LLC

KEIKO TRIBUTE DVD NOW AVAILABLE!

Joshua Records, LLC in Association with the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation have released the first edition of KEIKO TRIBUTE.

This 12-minute film and music tribute commemorates the 10th anniversary of Keiko's release back into his home waters in the North Atlantic where he thrived for 5 years before his death in 2003.

Hauntingly beautiful music and stunning film footage lead you through Keiko’s journey from his capture to his passing.

The music and film footage featured in KEIKO TRIBUTE are from the Keiko's Dream... Keiko's Legacy (the true story of the star of Free Willy) documentary, coming in 2009.

The tribute is narrated by:

Mark Berman, Associate Director,
Free Willy-Keiko Foundation

Naomi Rose, Marine Mammal Scientist,
The Humane Society of the United States

View the Trailer

Purchase the DVD

KEIKO TRIBUTE DVD

We are so pleased to announce that the KEIKO TRIBUTE on DVD is in the final stages for release! This 12 minute film and music tribute commemorates the 10th anniversary of Keiko's release back into his home waters in Iceland where he thrived for 5 years before his death in 2003.

You will be able to order the DVD online at www.theresacd.com. We will post another message when it is available, targeted for the first week of December.



KEIKO TRIBUTE
In association with the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation,
Joshua Records, LLC presents
a tribute to Keiko,
the movie star orca who continues to touch so many lives.
Hauntingly beautiful music and stunning film footage
lead you through Keiko’s journey from his capture to his passing in 2003.
The music and film footage featured in KEIKO TRIBUTE are from the
documentary of Keiko’s life titled:
Keiko’s Dream ... Keiko’s Legacy
The true story of the star of Free Willy
Coming in 2009

Narrated by:
Mark Berman, Associate Director,
Free Willy-Keiko Foundation

Naomi Rose, Marine Mammal Scientist,
The Humane Society of the United States

First Edition | TRT 12 minutes
Copyright Joshua Records, LLC 2008 All Rights Reserved

Moving to 2009

Hello everyone,

We wanted to let you know that the release date has been moved out to the Spring of 2009. We want to ensure the film is as perfect as it can be, and we have come across new footage, ideas, and insights.

In the meantime, we are working to release a music video with the new footage of Keiko as well as music commissioned just for this film.


- Joshua Records, Executive Producers

Trivia

Did you know that Keiko watched the movie Free Willy while he was in his home at the Oregon Coast Aquarium?

Mark Berman's Second Visit

Mark Berman, Associate Director of the Earth Island Institute, joined us in Portland again for more interviewing. His stories are inspiring and help keep us motivated. Not that we need motivation, with all the support we are receiving on this Blog and YouTube, but Mark has a way of drawing you in. His honesty and passion for Keiko and all marine animals is contagious.

Mark gave us more details about Keiko’s capture, his treatment during the filming of Free Willy, and about Orca life in general.

Our favorite moment, however, was his personal story of how Keiko “trained him”, the same way he “trained the trainer”. Mark visited Keiko in Iceland, and went to the edge of the water to see Keiko. He reached out his hand to touch Keiko, and Keiko would sit just out of reach. When Mark would remove his hand, he would come closer, then move just out of reach again as Mark tried to touch him. Mark learned who was in charge of the operation!

Do you have similar stories? We would love to hear them! Simply click the comments link at the bottom of this posting. We will take stories from the comments and put them on the main page for all to read!

Thank you for your support, we cannot do it without you.

-Joshua Records

Still Immersed in Footage

We are so excited. We are so very excited. We have been given more footage from so many people involved in Keiko’s rehabilitation and release efforts! We have such a positive reaction to this project that we have been able to turn it from a music video, to a documentary short, to a full-length educational video. We know that Keiko is proud and smiling on our efforts!

One of our favorite parts: in the beginning credits, we get to give credit to the “voice-overs”. Anywhere you hear a whale singing is Keiko! We have enough recordings of him that we are placing his voice throughout the film. So even though Keiko has passed away, he is still starring in his own film!

Stay tuned for more updates, we are working ever so diligently to ensure that this project is as perfect as we can make it.

We would love to hear your comments and stories of your experience with Keiko!

Most Sincerely,
Joshua Records

Read about how sonar testing in the oceans and seas effects marine wildlife

Navy’s Deadly Sonar Threatens Whales

I had the privilege of helping film Mark Berman's first visit to Portland when he interviewed for the film. One of the stories he talked about was the effects that sonar testing has on marine life. The Navy started sonar testing many years ago, not knowing the negative effects it would have on marine life and humans. The dangers and pain (including death) that it causes is shocking and overwhelmingly sad. I assumed that Mark's next sentence would be that of course we humans, as stewards of the animals, had stopped immediately. But it was not. It is still happening.

I am on the mailing list for the National Resources Defense Council. Their website has many great resources to educate yourself about the environment. When I received this story, I knew it was a reminder to me to help tell Mark's story.
http://www.nrdc.org/naturesvoice/success1.asp

You can go here on their website to sign a petition that supports more strict standards for using sonar testing.
http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/campaigns/oceans/save-marine-life-from-deadly-sonar.html

Thank you for being stewards for animals,
Claire
- Joshua Records Staff Member

More with Eric Engelken

In reading Eric's amazing story of being with Keiko, a few questions came up for us that we thought the public might be interested in. Here are our questions and Eric's answers.

Joshua Records: What does "spy hopping" mean?
ERIC: Spy hopping is the behavior that Keiko did. It's when an orca lifts their head out of the water, up to were there pectoral fins meet their body, the reason for this is to take a quick look around so that they can look at an object or to orient themselves in the wild.

Joshua Records: How did you get such great footage of Keiko and other orcas?
ERIC: I did all of my filming of Keiko at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Some of my other footage comes from my summer at Paul Spong's "Orcalab" on Hanson Island in Canada. Along this journey, I've put much effort into making people along the way aware of the plight of Keiko, Corky and Lolita and all the others still in captivity!

I was part of the media, I had my own public access t.v. show called "Whale Tales". I got a hold of Dianne Hammond at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I told her that I wanted to do a piece on Keiko for my show. The first trip up to Oregon was in Aug. of 1998. My second trip was about 1 month later 3 days before Keiko was to leave for Iceland. When I arrived in Oregon on my second trip, I went to all the media meetings, received a press kit and a few perks!

On move day they had erected scaffolding for all the media, I got up there very early in the morning and I recall they had areas all areas on the scaffolding floor like a parking lot w/ lines and spaces all marked of for all of the major networks and then an area for the rest of us , but because I got there at sunrise there was very few people were up on the scaffolding and so I setup my gear in one of the major 3 networks area's and got some great footage!

Joshua Records: What was your role during your summer internship at the "Orcalab" in Canada?
ERIC: I did a summer Internship at Paul Spong's "Orcalab" on Hanson Island, in Canada, this was fun. I had many jobs that summer, basically listening to about 7 or 8 hydrophones that were all part of a network, all placed in certain geographical areas, and keeping a hand written log and tape recording of all the sounds that would come over them. I would also on occasion be a spotter, we had 4 scopes on tripods out on the deck of the observatory and we would use these to see if we could spot any dorsal fins or any activity.

I think that all of this past training and experience is why I started my cable public access t.v. show that evolved into a my own weekly show called "Whale Tales". I got a crash course in using the editing equipment for editing video tape together and adding voice overs and many other things that are involved in being the producer, editor, videographer... basically a one man t.v. show. It was very difficult sometimes, but this was my vehicle to meet Keiko!!

Orcas Are Magnificent - written by Eric Engelken

MEET ERIC ENGELKEN:
During Keiko's journey at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and his move to Iceland, Eric Engelken ran a weekly public access television show out of California called “Whale Tales.” Eric made the trip to Oregon twice during the summer of 1998 to meet and film Keiko and many of the people involved in his recovery efforts. Eric also completed an internship at Paul Spong's "Orcalab" on Hanson Island, in Canada. Eric has shared with us, his amazing film footage of Keiko while he is in Oregon, as well as footage from Canada of Orcas in the wild. Much of this footage is being interspersed in the documentary.

We asked Eric to tell his experiences with Keiko in his own words. We hope you enjoy this important, personal story- thank you Eric!

ERIC'S STORY:
I have always thought that orcas were magnificent, beautiful and above all else very intelligent marine mammals. The first orca I ever saw was as a child at Marine Land Africa USA. As a young child, it was all about “Wow, look at that beautiful animal and look at the cool tricks it’s doing.” Now fast forward 20 years to adulthood; I now realize how wrong it is to have these animals taken out of the wild and taken away from their families in the ocean and put in a swimming pool and forced to perform 3 shows a day for a paying audience.

So the summer of 1998 I had the chance to go see Keiko. This is when I heard of Keiko and his story, he had all ready been in Newport quite a long time. I got on the Internet and tried to learn as much about Keiko as I could. At the time I was living in the San Joaquin Valley of California in a large city and I wanted to do something to make the public aware of the plight of Keiko and other captives.

We had a major cable company in our area and they had public access T.V. shows. In my research to have my own show, I watched several of them and so I called the cable company and asked what I had to do to get a show of my own that would eventually evolve into a weekly show called “Whale Tales”. My boss was really cool, he didn’t have to do this but I made 2 trips to Newport and he let me use all the camera equipment to go to Newport twice!! The first trip I went on was in Aug. of 1998 about 1 month before Keiko’s trip to Iceland. The last trip was to Newport for 3 days, and on the 3rd day was his move day.

Both times I got first class access to all that was Keiko’s world, I was allowed full access to Keiko. I got to go into his control room that the locals called “Killer Whale”. I also got to go to the top side of this pool, I walked in to a live fish training session. The media was talking up the subject that Keiko was not doing well catching and eating live fish. Well, I saw first hand that in the period of about 3 minutes, he had eaten all 4 fish that the trainers had throw in. I inquired to one of the trainers what kind of fish they were throwing in Keiko’s tank, they told me that they were full-grown Steelhead Salmon, and none of them were slowed down by putting them in ice, which is what they did in the beginning of Keiko’s training when he first got to Oregon.

On my first trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, I happened to be by myself with one of the representatives of the Free Willy Keiko Foundation. We were standing at the public viewing windows when Keiko came swimming upside down with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, as if do say I’m just being goofy, but I of course had to read more into it. I remembered back to the film of him in Mexico in the hot weather full of papiloma virus lesions all over his pectoral fins and the part of his body were it met his huge tail flukes. He was just floating or logging with no energy what so ever!! Under weight and just listless, then he came to Oregon and got a much bigger tank with fresh salt water from a local bay; he had better food, better care, and started to hunt live fish. He was now a healthy bull male killer whale!!! Ready for his next challenge of going home to were he was first captured as a juvenile. Going to the next step in his rehabilitation a sea pen in the Westman Islands.

On my second trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, I noticed that Keiko was very interested in my friend who was with me in Newport on that particular trip. We were standing pool side I was filming in the water walk way and my friend was standing on the corner of this tank, Keiko spy hoped in front of him. All in all Keiko spent about 15 minutes watching him.

After that Keiko and I had our moment of connection. He would come up the water walkway and stick his head out of the water with his chin resting on the edge of the walkway. I would talk to him, in my own way for about 5-6 minutes and he opened his mouth wide and stuck out his tongue as if to say “I want to be silly, I’m going to show you how I like to play with my toys.”

Keiko had a blue boomer ball, an inner tube and this strange looking white plastic octagon shaped thing that looked like a floating piece of ice that he might find when he goes to Iceland!!! He started by flipping the white octagon shaped plastic object, he would bang his head against it and the white plastic toy would go into the wall, Then he would take it out to the middle of his pool and with his rostrum flip it over and then try to flip it back upright. He continued to play with it for quite some time, then it was on to his blue boomer ball and inner tube.

Keiko had two jets of water that squirted out the side of his pool, so he started swimming laps around his pool, he really seemed to enjoy them when he would swim into and by the water jets. His trainer told me that they really enjoys going through the 2 jets, they kind of take place for what whales in the wild do at the rubbing beaches. In my personal opinion I knew that he was ready to go to Iceland!

The last time I ever saw Keiko was the day he left Newport, O.R. for Iceland. At this point I had never seen an orca in the wild. Free to swim with it’s family, breach at will, hunt for salmon. Well my chance finally came to be a volunteer at Paul Spong’s Orcalab research station at Hanson Island in Canada. So I packed my bags and tent and hopped on a plane, after landing in Canada, I hitch-hiked to a town then caught two ferries and I ended up in Alert Bay, a tiny town with a lot of first nation Indians, as I walked down the main road in the town I passed a first nation cemetery with a beautiful hand carved totem pole that told the story of an Indian man that had died and in their culture his spirit was transformed into and Orca, after seeing that totem pole I knew I was in for a special summer.

Once I got to Orcalab, Paul and Helena Spong assigned me a shift at the research station, I remember the anticipation until I saw my first pod of orcas free and swimming in the ocean. It took a couple of days and then I heard their calls on one of the hydrophone that was close to Orcalab, soon they appeared!! Just being able to observe them in their environment was one of the most life changing experiences in my life and still is to this day. I remember the sound they made when they surfaced and exhaled, it was so loud!! Then you see their dorsal fins, they were all different, some had notches out of them, some leaned to one side or to other, then they would disappear as fast as they appeared!!! After that great summer I was hooked. I was and still am anti-captivity to this day.

I believe that the whole “Keiko experiment” meaning rescuing him from Mexico, bringing him to Newport, his time spent there getting healthy and his training to be a wild orca again and then his journey back to his home land of Iceland until he broke away one stormy day. Keiko would swim from Vestmannaeyjar to the Faroes and eventually on to Norway. Eventually Keiko’s last home in the wild would be Taknes Bay, and he was free to come and go. Keiko would finally pass away there, but to this day I strongly believe that the “Keiko Experiment” was a monumental success!

Immersed in Footage

Joshua Records is working diligently to get through all the footage that we have received on Keiko. The more we watch, the more we want to share, and the more excited we are to complete the project. There are so many, but we want to share two incredibly touching moments that we have experienced so far.

• First was hearing Keiko’s voice as he swam along side the boat during his “ocean walks”.
• Second is an amazing shot of three Orcas that surface right at the same time, and from the back we see three dorsal fins in unison come out of the water. So artistic and heartwarming, knowing it is a family unit enjoying being alive.