{"id":4865,"date":"2003-12-16T09:56:16","date_gmt":"2003-12-16T16:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=4865"},"modified":"2003-12-16T09:56:16","modified_gmt":"2003-12-16T16:56:16","slug":"it_is_a_puzzlem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/12\/16\/it_is_a_puzzlem.html","title":{"rendered":"It is a puzzlement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Keiko\"I’m sure someone can explain this all to me, but why would the US Humane Society and the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, among others, pay to have the deceased Keiko, the Killer Whale … buried<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Keiko, the killer whale star of the “Free Willy” movies, was buried Monday in a snow-bound pasture during the deep darkness of Nordic winter in a ceremony kept secret from the public.
\nThe roughly six-ton whale died Friday in a Norwegian bay where his team was trying to reintroduce him to the wild. His trainers said the likely cause of death was pneumonia.
\nRichards said the burial in a pasture just yards from where Keiko, about 26, died was done in secret to avoid a media circus. Despite the whale’s size, the burial went smoothly, Richards said. Machines dug a hole near the waterline, under cover of darkness, and then slid Keiko slowly a few yards across the snow into his grave, he said.
\n“It was beautiful. He went to the grave quietly, quickly and peacefully, just like he died,” said Richards. Only seven people — including his team and the machine operator — were present.<\/p>\n

Well, yeah — because he was dead<\/i>. I mean, I wouldn’t expect <\/i>him to put up a struggle.<\/p>\n

But, honestly, doesn’t that represent a measure of artifice and anthropomorphism that animal rights organizations would ordinarily oppose? Doesn’t that break the Circle of Life? Or, even more metaphysically, doesn’t that mean that he’ll never <\/i>be free again? <\/p>\n

The grave site, a lush and grassy field during the summer, was covered with snow and barely visible by daylight Monday.<\/p>\n

Both of which are, of course, an orca’s natural habitat. Doesn’t anyone else find it ironic that the people who worked so hard to send him back to the wild removed him from it for his final resting place?<\/p>\n

Normally, Norwegian fisheries authorities would order the remains of a large sea mammal towed to sea and sunk in deep water.<\/p>\n

I mean, I suppose it might have been a bit embarrassing if the rotting remains of Keiko washed up on the beach outside Oslo. But … <\/p>\n

“We wanted to let him be at peace,” said Dane Richards, one of his caretakers. “He’s free now and in the wild.”<\/p>\n

Well, no, now he’s landlocked and beached for eternity. That’s just swell.<\/p>\n

(via BoingBoing<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m sure someone can explain this all to me, but why would the US Humane Society and the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, among others, pay to have the deceased Keiko, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4740,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/01\/14\/a_fluke_of_scie.html","url_meta":{"origin":4865,"position":0},"title":"A fluke of science","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Jan-04 3:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Norwegian authorities are concerned about a site now being visited by many children and tourists that may be full of toxic PCBs. What multinational heartless conglomerate is responsible for this...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41567,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/31\/no-japans-whale-hunting-is-not-science.html","url_meta":{"origin":4865,"position":1},"title":"No, Japan's whale hunting is not "science"","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 31-Mar-14 8:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"It's using \"science\" as a cover for \"we want whale meat.\" \u00a0Or, given how demand has gone down for whale meat, even in Japan, for \"we've now created a government-funded whale hunting industry that will make people unhappy if we stop it.\"Nor do I buy the counter-argument that it's no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14717,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/05\/05\/wail-whale-wale.html","url_meta":{"origin":4865,"position":2},"title":"Wail, Whale, Wale","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 5-May-09 11:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As in, \"to [WORD] upon someone.\" Which is correct? Well, wail is almost certainly wrong. Is it whale?\u00a0 One high-ranking site says yes. One informal meaning of \u201cwhale\u201d is \u201cto beat.\u201d Huck Finn says of Pap that \u201cHe used to always whale me when he was sober.\u201d Although the vocalist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing and Language"","block_context":{"text":"Writing and Language","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/writing-and-language"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28396,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/21\/fail-whale-watching.html","url_meta":{"origin":4865,"position":3},"title":"Fail Whale Watching","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 21-Jun-12 10:53am","format":false,"excerpt":"What's noteworthy about Twitter being down is not just Twitter being down, but Twitter-based services. So, for example, I usually log into Disqus commenting services via my Twitter account (I decline to do so with either my Google or my Facebook account, for different reasons). \u00a0But that's not working, either.Oh,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4514,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/08\/15\/science_marches.html","url_meta":{"origin":4865,"position":4},"title":"Science Marches On!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Aug-03 6:56am","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the sort of thing that folks dream of when growing up and considering a career in science. At least when they're the third grade. 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