Killing Keiko by Mark A. Simmons Read Free Book Online Page B

thought was
     about noise. I had seen a multitude of large ships and boats moored in the harbor
     on our drive through town. It was surprising to me that the bay pen was situated so
     close to the shipping channel. Marine mammals have very sensitive hearing and can
     hear sounds across a much broader range of the frequency scale than human ears can
     appreciate. In marine mammal circles, it’s often said that they “live in a world of
     sound.” The position of the bay pen placed it right in what appeared like a giant
     parabolic echo chamber.
Surely the shipping traffic noise had to be detrimental to Keiko?
Overloaded with sensory input of the surroundings myself, I quickly became distracted
     with the bay pen, the bull’s-eye of Klettsvik Bay.
    The structure was quite simple and from my vantage point on the overlook, appeared
     incredibly small. It wasn’t small, but relative to the cliffs, the massive bay and
     the mouth of the channel, it looked like an oddly appointed fish hatchery about the
     size of a tennis court. In actuality, the bay pen was almost the length of a football
     field and nearly seventy feet wide. The configuration was that of two octagonal circles
     joined by a smaller square pool in between. It did not narrow in the midsection; rather
     this is where the bulk of the deck space existed surrounding the small joining medical
     pool (or “med pool”). I could see two boxcar-looking structures placed opposite one
     another across the med pool. They looked as if they were balancing the bay pen from
     side to side. The pen’s length was situated north to south in the bay, exposing the
     south circle tothe shipping channel. I could not make out a killer whale in the pen. I shouldn’t
     have expected to, the light was fading and we were roughly half a mile away.
    Over the last week, Robin had been engaged in ongoing discussions regarding our involvement
     in the project. He was at an impasse. On the overlook, looking out at the bay pen
     and shouting through the wind and crashing waves, he shared with me the primary roadblocks
     to our proposal.
    “They don’t believe that behavior has anything to do with the reintroduction,” Robin
     started.
    I was stunned. “I’m not sure I understand. What do you mean that behavior has nothing
     to do with it?”
    “It’s the level of ignorance running the project; they don’t have the tools to understand
     what to do next or how to prepare Keiko. To some degree, and what I don’t know, they
     thought Keiko, once in Iceland, would show them the way. I think the only way to enlighten
     them is to slowly introduce them to what is needed for Keiko and explain the process
     in simple terms. But we’re going to have to keep it simple … even Jeff doesn’t consider
     behavior a part of it.”
    Jeff Foster, lead project manager, had a degree in psychology and a background in
     collecting wild killer whales, but he had never been involved in their training beyond
     that of initial acclimation. I didn’t even know how to respond to Robin’s comment.
    “Then why am I here? I mean, why did they agree to fly me up here?”
    “Because I insisted.”
    “Great, so I’m the black sheep that no one wants here or agrees with? Nice first impressions.”
    “We’ll be fine.”
    “What’s the plan?” I asked. Both of us had turned our backs to the wind, shoulders
     hunched up around our necks and hands shoved in our pants pockets. Robin’s jacket
     hood had flipped up over his head. He peered around it as he continued.
    “We’ll meet with Jeff and Jen this afternoon and then get out to the bay pen tomorrow
     morning.” Jen Schorr was Jeff’s right-hand and the lead organizer for research data
     collection. “Charles Vinick is the Ocean Futures executive vice president and the
     Keiko Release Project’s chief operations officer. He’s arriving Tuesday, and we’ll
     spend more time then or Wednesday going over the proposal and behavioral strategy.”
    I