""Our hope is that once they reach the age of maturity, both otters will become surrogate mothers, so that more orphaned pups have the chance to return to the ocean," said Megan Smylie, the aquarium's sea otter program manager."
""When a pup strands on the Central California coast, federal and state wildlife officials respond to assess whether it is truly orphaned," said Brett Long, the Long Beach aquarium's vice president of animal care."
""The surrogate teaches the pup to groom, forage, and behave like a wild otter," Long said."
Rey, a young adult female sea otter, and Sunny, an orphaned pup, have found a home at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Both otters are non-releasable to the wild and are intended to become surrogate mothers for stranded baby sea otters. The aquarium is part of a surrogacy program that helps teach rescued pups essential survival skills. Once Rey and Sunny mature, they will assist in nurturing orphaned pups, increasing their chances of returning to the ocean.
Read at Los Angeles Times
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]