Keiko had not escaped.
He was still in Mexico City.
And his health was poor.
PBS reported that by the time the movie came out, Keiko was severely underweight, suffered from muscle atrophy and had a compromised immune system.
The contrast was difficult to ignore.
The fictional Willy had been rescued.
The real Willy had not.
Children Started Sending Money
The people most affected by that contradiction were often the movie's youngest viewers.
Children began contributing money to efforts to improve Keiko's situation.
Some donated allowances.
Others held fundraisers.
School groups collected coins.
The Washington Post later reported that much of the early fundraising came from children running cookie sales or donating their own spending money. By 1996, the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation had raised millions of dollars, with Warner Bros. itself contributing substantially to the project.
The campaign eventually became much larger than a children's fundraiser.
Major donors joined.
Marine specialists became involved.
A formal rehabilitation effort developed.
The goal initially was simple:
Get Keiko out of the inadequate Mexico City pool and into an environment where he could regain his health.
Whether he could ever return fully to the wild was still an open question.
First, he had to survive and recover.
Oregon Became the Halfway Point
The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport became Keiko's next home.
A massive new facility was built specifically for his rehabilitation.
The tank held approximately 2 million gallons of water, many times larger than the pool Keiko had occupied in Mexico City.
The aquarium confirms that Keiko arrived there in January 1996 and spent roughly two and a half years undergoing rehabilitation.
When he arrived, the work ahead was significant.
The goal was not simply to make Keiko look healthier.
If there was any chance of returning him to Icelandic waters, he needed to develop the physical condition necessary to survive in a colder, more natural environment.
He had to gain weight.
He had to build muscle.
He had to improve his health.
He also needed to develop behaviors that a captive animal might not have practiced for many years.
That included learning to catch live fish rather than depending entirely on humans for food.
The difference between Keiko's condition in Mexico and his condition after rehabilitation in Oregon was dramatic.
By September 1998, he weighed about 9,050 pounds and measured approximately 21 feet long, according to contemporary Washington Post reporting.
CBS reported that he had added at least a ton of muscle and blubber while at the Oregon facility.
Now came an even harder question.
Could they bring him home?
Getting a 9,000-Pound Whale Across the Atlantic
Moving an orca across an ocean is not comparable to transporting ordinary cargo.
Keiko could not simply be placed inside a crate.
He needed water.
He needed temperature control.
He needed veterinarians and trainers.
His breathing had to remain unobstructed.
His skin needed to be kept wet and protected.
His body required physical support.
And the journey had to be completed as quickly as reasonably possible.
The Free Willy Keiko Foundation developed a specialized transport system.
Keiko would lie in a custom-built container filled with chilled seawater and supported by a sling.
Medical personnel and trainers would accompany him.
Then came the aircraft question.
The destination was not simply Iceland's main international airport.
Keiko was heading for the Westman Islands, an archipelago off Iceland's southern coast.
There, a large sea pen had been prepared in a sheltered bay near Vestmannaeyjar.
Flying directly there would minimize the time Keiko spent being transported on land.
But Vestmannaeyjar Airport had a short runway.
The aircraft needed to carry Keiko and all the equipment across the Atlantic and still be capable of safely operating from that runway.
The C-17 Globemaster III was uniquely suited to the challenge.
An Airplane Built for War Gets a Very Different Passenger
The C-17 is a military transport aircraft designed to move large loads.
Its normal mission can include carrying troops, vehicles, helicopters and heavy military equipment.