Alaska SeaLife Center Takes in Its First Rescue of the Decade

This is one lucky pup! This little guy is now safely at the Alaska SeaLife Center after being found stranded on an Alaskan beach in January in… not great circumstances. The Center writes:

A young male sea otter pup was admitted to the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) on January 17, 2020.  The two week old otter pup was found stranded on a beach near Seldovia, AK with snowballs embedded in his fur and surrounded by birds.

A local resident called the stranding hotline to report that the young otter had been seen alone and there were no other otters in sight. After receiving permission from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Smokey Bay Air donated the flight to get the pup to Homer where a team of volunteers transported the otter to the Center.

The sea otter pup, now seven weeks old, is under 24-hour care from our Wildlife Response Team. “Young otter pups like this one need constant care and attention, from grooming his coat to encouraging him to play in the pool. We are with him around-the-clock,” stated Wildlife Response Curator, Jane Belovarac. Currently, the otter is getting fed both formula and solid food every 3 hours. The team has slowly introduced clam into his diet and he is progressing well. Caretakers continue to work on getting him to practice proper grooming skills like rolling in the water and swimming with purpose. This young pup has already proven to be quite the athletic otter as he swims and manipulates toys in the water.  

Stories like this make us at the Daily Otter so grateful for all the humans like the ones in this story who go out of their way to help these vulnerable animals - from the resident who reported the pup, to the hotline workers, the USFWS, the flight company who donated a flight, the volunteers, and the staff at ASLC. It’s thanks to all these humans that this pup gets a second chance - and we get to fawn over him!

Photos via Alaska SeaLife Center