FREE WILLY - EMOTIONAL SERVICE FOR FREE WILLY WHALE

A memorial service for the killer whale star of FREE WILLY has attracted nearly 700 people.

KEIKO, who died in December (03), was honoured at the OREGON COAST AQUARIUM, where he lived between 1996 and 1998.

And the service was an emotional farewell as many of the assembled mourners shed tears for the mammoth mammal.

Veterinary chaplain THOMAS CHATTERTON says, "Keiko was not one of our kind but nonetheless he was still one of us."