Orphaned Baby Sea Otter Learns to Swim, Captures the Hearts of Chicago

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.takepart.com/video/2014/11/07/orphaned-baby-sea-otter-learns-how-swim-finds-new-home?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2014-11-10&cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2014-11-10


Video: http://www.takepart.com/video/2014/11/07/orphaned-baby-sea-otter-learns-how-swim-finds-new-home?cmpid=longtailshare

The rescued pup is one of the lucky ones—the recovery of the species in California has been slow.

November 08, 2014 By Kristina Bravo

Kristina Bravo is Assistant Editor at TakePart.

After a bit of fattening up and some swimming lessons, a five-week-old sea otter pup has moved from California to a new home in Chicago.

A beachgoer walking along the central California coast called marine officials after hearing the cries of the lone female pup on Sept. 30. Rescuers took her to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where for a month the otter—called Pup 681—received 24-hour care that included feeding and swimming lessons. (Infants rely on their mothers, who nurse them and show them how to swim and hunt.) This week the tiny critter was transferred to Chicago’s Shield Aquarium, a leading center in sea otter rehabilitation.

“Pup 681’s situation was urgent,” Tim Binder, Shedd’s vice president of animal collections, said in a statement. “As an organization dedicated to marine mammal care and conservation, we were perfectly positioned to ensure that this little pup had a home, providing the long-term care needed to survive.”

Six to eight experts will keep an eye on Pup 681 at Shedd. She now weighs six pounds, up from just over two pounds when she was first found. Her caretakers are hoping to be able to teach her skills—including grooming, foraging, and temperature regulating—needed to survive at sea.

FULL story and VIDEO at link.

[ffr]

1. They must have determined she couldn't be returned to the wild.

No face shields, one-on-one contact with the animal and not rehabilitated where she can be returned to the ocean. Too bad too! The pacific ocean needs these keystone species to maintain the health of the ecosystem and breeding females are critical to that. Otter 681 will probably not rear pups of her own.

Toola and Otter 501 (Youtube)
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[shenmue]

2. Squee!

[Skittles]

3. I did not realize they were taught how to swim

I guess I assumed that was automatic