'Better than any human': Surrogate otter teaches pup how to fend for herself

Millie and 968, seen on a TV screen at the Long Beach aquarium. — Photos: ALLEN J SCHABEN//Los Angeles Times/TNS

Their pairing isn’t all about cuddles and relaxation. Just before Millie decided it was nap time, the pup known as 968 was practising manipulating a crab shell, one of the skills she’d need to survive in the ocean. She’d also need to master foraging for food and grooming her thick, insulating coat. Sometimes baby sea otters get separated from their mothers, who might fall victim to a predator or get swept away during a storm. If they aren’t reunited or rescued by people, the outlook isn’t good; most baby otters can’t survive long alone.

So she was taken to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where all sea otter pups stranded in California pass through. Her number denotes that she’s the 968th otter to enter the aquarium’s rehabilitation programme. While otters raised this way were able to hunt, they didn’t always socialise properly, said Brett Long, senior director of birds and mammals at Aquarium of the Pacific. Many were too comfortable with people.

They continued refining the methods, distancing humans from the caretaking process as much as possible. Caretakers wear disguises reminiscent of Darth Vader’s getup during feedings – so they’re not recognised as people. Panels are put around their pools to block the sight of humans, and the otters are monitored remotely. Releasable otters are also never placed in aquarium displays.

Visitors are charmed by an otter at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. What they can't see is the aquarium's out-of-sight effort to unite an orphaned otter pup with an adoptive mother.After a three-week stabilisation period, 968 was driven from Monterey to Long Beach. During the roughly six-hour drive, she had ice to munch on and cool air piped in. When 968 met Millie in February, it wasn’t familial love at first sight – at least on the pup’s end.

Aquarium personnel would get excited every time the pup swam closer to Millie. When the two otters finally united, after nearly seven days, cheers erupted from the office where they watched the events unfold on a livestream.

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