Activists Revive Push to Move Ailing Orca Back to Sea : Controversy: Group wants to reunite the aging whale with her family. Sea World says such a move would put the killer whale at risk after 20 years in captivity.

It would be a whale of a homecoming story. If it happens.

Animal rights activists renewed their plea Tuesday to free a killer whale after 23 years in captivity. The “Corky Project,” as supporters call it, has asked Sea World in San Diego to return the oldest of its six killer whales to her native waters off British Columbia.

What makes the release of Corky a compelling issue are signs of her failing health and the length of separation from her pod, or group of whales that includes her family, activists say. Corky’s age has been estimated at 30 years, which Sea World officials say is near the life expectancy for orcas in captivity.

However, the officials say the proposal to free Corky is a romantic but impractical idea that would place the aging and, at times, ailing whale in jeopardy. Among Sea World’s concerns are Corky’s ability to hunt after having been hand-fed 200 pounds of fish each day for two decades, and whether she would be accepted into the pod.

The proposal was conceived by Canadian whale expert Paul Spong, and was first raised in July, 1990, at an international conference of marine biologists and conservationists in Geneva. It was later presented to Anheuser Busch Corp., which owns the chain of Sea World theme parks.

All overtures to Sea World have been rebuffed, Spong said in a phone interview Tuesday. But, backed by new research, Corky’s would-be liberator said he feels a “breakthrough” in talks with Sea World may be imminent.

However, officials at the marine park said the proposal has not changed significantly since first presented and that the whale’s safety is still a matter of concern.

“We won’t consider putting this animal at this kind of risk,” said Jim Antrim, Sea World’s general curator. “I don’t know why they are even raising this ruckus again.”

Supporters of the Corky Project maintain that the whale’s mother is still alive at sea and that the strong possibility of reuniting Corky with her family is what makes her the best candidate for freedom. Researchers have said that the whale’s pod was identified several years ago and is being tracked by scientists.

Spong said he is waiting for the park to respond to the idea of two preliminary tests that would help determine the whale’s chances for survival in the wild. The first is a comparison of DNA from tissue samples from Corky and the whale thought to be her mother. This would prove the pod is Corky’s, Spong said.

The second is to play recordings of sounds made by whales from Corky’s presumed pod off British Columbia. Researchers maintain that whales continue to identify with their “natal dialect” and that Corky’s response to the sounds would provide clues as to whether she would be accepted back into the pod.

Spong’s proposal and Sea World’s response has split opinion among marine researchers and independent whale watchers.

The value of whale family ties, which are among the strongest held by any animals, including humans, may be underestimated by officials at Sea World, said Mary Getten, a researcher at The Whale Museum on San Juan Island in Washington’s Puget Sound.

At the same time, the hurdles to surviving in the wild may be overwhelming given modern-day threats in the deep sea--not only natural predators, but commercial hunters, fishing net mishaps and increasingly polluted waters, Getten said.

“For 23 years, Corky has been living in the equivalent of a whale box,” Getten said. “If somebody stuck me in a closet for that long, then stuck me in the middle of New York City, the stress would be unimaginable.

“It’s impossible to predict what would happen.”