MUSEUM CAMPUS — Shedd Aquarium has rescued another sea otter pup, this one off the frigid coast of Alaska.
The unnamed three-week-old pup was rescued in March off the coast of Cordova, Alaska after the Alaska Sealife Center reached out to the Shedd. Two members of the Shedd's Animal Response Team, which has cared for orphaned otter pups since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska's coast, flew to Alaska and helped the Sealife Center care for the pup for weeks after failing to find the pup's mother.
The pup weighed less than five pounds when it was found, but has since acclimated to its new life, eating more than a quarter of its body weight daily and ballooning up to a healthy 13 pounds, the Shedd said.
The pup has since started teething and learned how to groom itself and eat solid food, the Shedd said. Otters typically are raised by their mothers for the first nine months of their lives.
The rescue was announced Wednesday, which is World Otter Day.
Shedd has a healthy stable of five rescued otter pups including Ellie, who was found last year off the coast of California, and Luna, who has taken to aquatic basketball. The Shedd took out its otters for a snow day in March.
Photos of the rescued sea otter pup at the Alaska Sealife Center. [All photos by Shedd Aquarium/Brenna Hernandez]
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