(Vancouver) If she didn’t squeal and squirm, she’d look like a child’s stuffed toy, but the weeks-old sea otter was in serious condition when she was brought to the Rescue Center on Tuesday marine mammals at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Rescuers say the hungry otter enjoyed being bottle-fed puppy and kitten formula – combined with clams – every two hours by staff and volunteers who monitored him 24 hours a day.
“It gives it the flavor that sea otters really enjoy and the nutrients in the puppy and kitten formula,” Lindsaye Akhurst, senior director of the rescue center, said in an interview Wednesday.
Lindsaye Akhurst said the center was called Monday by Fisheries and Oceans Canada staff about a baby sea otter in need of help near Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
She explained that fisheries officials were able to take the otter to the ferry to meet rescue personnel who took it back to the center where it was stabilized.
“She was still very active and very noisy, very hungry. We don’t know how long she was separated from her mother,” Akhurst said.
The director mentioned that fisheries staff were studying how the otter, who has not yet been named, ended up alone.
The nonprofit running the rescue said in a statement that no one should ever attempt to save a marine mammal in distress on their own and that any findings should be reported to the Department of Fisheries or the center’s rescuers.
According to the release, baby sea otters depend on their mothers to survive because they cannot swim, hunt or regulate their body temperature on their own, and that staff are “cautiously optimistic” as the state of the otter stabilizes.
The director and chief veterinarian of the center, Dr. Martin Haulena, recalled in a press release that the otter is in “critical condition” and requires constant care to ensure its survival, which means that the cost of care is pupil.
Ms Akhurst said it was too early to say whether the otter could be released back into the wild.
“The process of rehabilitating baby sea otters is very broad and hands-on. At the moment we are obviously focusing on stabilizing her, so she can start to gain a little weight and get used to (being) taken care of,” she explained.
She said the aquarium already has eight sea otters, all of which were rehabilitated in North America when they were very young.
She also raised the fact that rescuers are responding to more and more cases involving sea otters.
“The sea otter population in British Columbia is increasing, which is really great. There was a time when their numbers were quite low and there was a bit of concern about them. But at this point, we’ll probably see more and more cases. »
