Oslo, Norway ? A Norwegian whale expert’s suggestion to kill Keiko star of the “Free Willy” movies has outraged activists and the whale’s adoring fans.

Keiko turned up in a fjord in western Norway this past weekend, six weeks after being released from his pen in Iceland, where experts had spent years helping the whale make the transition from life in captivity to life in the wild. Keiko swam nearly 870 miles to reach the fjord, which is about 250 miles northwest of the capital, Oslo.

Keiko is photographed and petted by visitors in the Skaalvik Fjord in Norway. The whale, having spent most of his life in captivity, seems to prefer the company of humans to living in the wild.

The 33-foot orca was an instant hit in the Skaalvik Fjord, where children swam with the whale and climbed on his back. Several small boats crowded around for a glimpse of the finned Hollywood star.

But a leading whale expert, Nils Oeien, claimed that Keiko used to life in captivity had little chance of surviving a winter in the cold western Norway fjords.

“Then it would be better to put him to death,” Oeien said in an interview broadcast by NRK, Norwegian state radio. He could not be reached for more comment.

Officials and activists denounced the suggestion, saying it would be unthinkable for the whale to be killed.

Keiko is probably the world’s most famous whale after his starring role in the three “Free Willy” films that were released in the 1990s, as well as a brief animated series shown on television.

“It is clear that Keiko is having trouble with life in the wild,” said Jan Einarsen, director on the Atlanterhavsparken aquarium in western Norway. “He needs help.”

Einarsen, who went to see the orca on Monday and Tuesday, agreed that Keiko might not be able to survive the winter on his own, but said people could provide him with food and companionship, perhaps in some remote area.

¢ www.aquarium.org/keiko

“There are not many solutions,” he said by telephone. He said the American organizations that led the projects to return Keiko to the wild Ocean Futures Society and the Humane Society of the United States must come up with a plan quickly.

Einarsen said the government of this Scandinavian nation of 4.5 million people now had jurisdiction over Keiko and must cooperate with the American groups.

Dag Paulsen, a spokesman for the Norwegian Fisheries Ministry, said killing Keiko was not an option.

“According to the information we have from them, it should be possible to coax the whale out of the coastal area in a humane and effective way by using food,” Paulsen said.

Keiko, which means “Lucky One” in Japanese, was captured near Iceland in 1979 when he was 2 and spent most of his life in captivity in Canada and Mexico.

His appearance in the 1993 film “Free Willy” and later sequels helped spark a campaign to free him.

Rescued from a Mexico City amusement park in 1996 and rehabilitated at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Ore., Keiko was airlifted back to Iceland in 1998 and taught to catch fish. Keiko’s rehabilitation cost $20 million.