Many people have heard about Keiko, the killer whale, who starred in the movie Free Willy. After seeing the movie, audiences discovered that the friendly whale in the movie was in a tank too small and in bad health because of that and other complications that come with being taken from its natural habitat to a place where it can't meet it's own needs. Soon a foundation was set u[ and money started pouring in from children and their schools to come up with a plan to one day free Keiko. The tank/habitat cost "$7.3 million to build and $9 million for staff, veterinarian, care, food, utilities and other costs for the first two years alone" (Oregon Coast Aquarium). With all the problems in the world with humans and animals, it is hard to see this much money going to help just one whale.

There are different types of animal stories that people hear about. There are the wonderful stories about adorable animals that do something amazing or need our help. There are also stories about animals that are used in good and bad experiments. When you hear about the treatment of some animals for research, you feel like forgetting about research.

8, three gray whales got stuck in freezing waters in Alaska, the whales were at risk of drowning because the holes in the ice that they were using to breathe were slowly freezing over. a large rescue was put together that ended up involving the National Guard and the U.S. and Soviet governments to get the whales free (Luke 87). Another story is of a mother cat that risked burning to death to save her kittens from a burning building. She and her kittens needed a home, which they got after the news coverage of the amazing act of the mother.

The first story is amazing because two separate governments (which haven't been able to get along for the most part of the last 50 years and have only recently started to become friendly) came together to help three animals that needed some outside help. The question is: were the two governments and other groups that helped, really trying to help the whales or get attention for themselves, and say "Hey, we are helpful to everyone including animals that can't even ask for help." The news is just as bad as the two governments and groups. the reporters give the animals names, which makes viewers feel like they know the animals involved, so they keep watching to find out what happens. TV is the land of ratings and the only way to get ratings is to grab the audiences' attention, with stories that make audiences have strong emotions about something (Luke 87). The cat and her kittens all got happy homes and the whales were able to go on their way, so in these two cases everything was successful.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sea World, Guard Soviet, Illegally Newkirk, Coast Aquarium, Sea Shepard, Free Willy, Las Vega, Kept Captivity, Captain Watson, animals captivity, captivity animals, born captivity, keeping captivity, endangered species, Paul Watson, born captivity animals, money help, animals names, natural habitat, giving animals, individual animals, money help whale,
Approximate Word count = 1571
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)