NORWAY: Keiko the killer whale, star of the "Free Willy" movies, got a new winter home in an ice-free Norwegian fjord yesterday after a battle between local communities vying for a new tourist attraction.
The orca will stay in western Norway, where he has made a splash with the locals since he showed up last month at a remote fishing community of 1,750 people. He was released from captivity in Iceland in July.
Norway's Fishery Directorate said Keiko would be moved to Taknes bay in the Korsnes fjord in West Norway, about 10 km northeast from the Skaalvik fjord where he has spent the last six weeks.
Both fjords are in Halsa municipality, which has lobbied hard to keep Keiko from other municipalities seeking a new attraction. Thousands of people have come to watch Keiko.
Keiko's surprise visit to Norway has sparked controversy in the only nation in the world that hunts whales commercially and where whales are viewed more as meat than entertainment.
In Taknes, Keiko will not be disturbed by local fish farms or boat traffic and the area is ice-free through the winter.
Many whales die every year from being trapped under the ice in deep Norwegian fjords. Keiko, tracked by satellite since leaving Iceland, will be free to swim off at any time. But he has stuck close to a boat from which his handlers feed him herring.