The Oregon Zoo welcomed a fresh-faced resident Friday with the arrival of a tiny sea otter pup who was rescued in California after he was abandoned at less than 2 weeks of age.
For now, the pup is being called “805,” the number assigned to him by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which took him in after he was found stranded in the Morro Bay Harbor in late October.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was unable to find a surrogate mom for little 805 and they determined he wouldn’t be able to be released back into the wild.
“We needed to locate a zoo or aquarium that could take him in,” Andrew Johnson, Monterey Bay Aquarium’s conservation research operations manager, said in a press release. “Fortunately, the Oregon Zoo was able to provide him with a permanent home.”
Now roughly 2 months old, the pup weighs about 14 pounds and zoo staff are working to show him the ropes of otter-hood.
“When they’re young they float like corks, but he’s learning to dive now and loves showing off,” said Sara Morgan, Oregon Zoo marine life keeper. “He’s full of spunk, very squeaky and fun to be around. He also takes a lot of naps — that’s when he’s at his fluffiest.”
Prefers shrimp
Little 805 has started to groom himself and likes almost all of the seafood diet zookeepers have offered him, both good signs for his development.
“Right now he definitely has a preference for shrimp,” Morgan said. “He seemed insulted when I tried to offer him squid.”
Sea otters once swam the waters off the Oregon Coast in great abundance, but were hunted to extinction in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1900s. Other than a few rare sightings, the species has not been able to re-establish itself anywhere north of California.
Sea otters are protected under both the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act due to threats from fishing nets, oil spills and disease.
The Oregon Zoo’s newest addition won’t be on display right away, but zoogoers should be able to get their first glimpse of 805 when he joins the zoo’s adult otters, Edie and Juno, in early 2018.
