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- Hi, my name is Sandrine Hazan
and I'm the Stranding and Rehabilitation Manager
for the Sea Otter Program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Come on in and take a sneak peek.
The Otter Care Program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
takes in stranded, injured and orphaned sea otters
to be rehabilitated and released back into the wild.
So, we actually spend the majority of the time
observing these otters in this office,
using our camera systems and the monitors.
This is a great tool for us to be able to observe them
without directly impacting their behavior.
These are the current otters that we have in-house.
And as you can tell the majority of them
have numbers for names.
And this is so that we don't become attached
to these otters that are going to be released
back into the wild.
Ivy is one of our resident otters and she acts
as a surrogate for our orphaned pups.
Like all wild animals, it's important for the public
to give them their distance.
Injured and orphaned otters can be very
dangerous and can bite.
They can easily transmit diseases to humans as well,
which is why it's important to keep your distance
and allow for experts to handle them.
Paul is prepping some food.
And what do we got?
We are currently feeding them, some squid.
This is definitely one of their least favorite items
but it's good for them to have a variety.
Sea otters at the Monterey Aquarium eat very well.
It is important that they have a diverse diet.
Providing proper enrichment is really important
for all age groups that are under our care
but specifically for pups.
This gives them the opportunity to practice
manipulating objects, which then translates to being able
to handle live prey as they get older.
Taking care of pups is a full-time job.
They get offered formula approximately every
three to four hours.
And once they get older and have the appropriate dentition,
we then start offering solid food.
Eventually we get them to the point
that they can recover food and dive to the bottom
on their own, before going in with a surrogate.
One of our primary goals, when working with these
dependent pups is ensuring their successful release
back into the wild.
And one of the ways that we can do that, is
by helping to prevent imprinting and habituation on humans.
We wanna to make sure that they don't associate anything
positive with humans, such as food or grooming.
In order to do that, we need to disguise ourselves
to create a shapeless form, that hides the human body.
So, since this pup is going to be released back
into the wild, I want to make sure to disguise myself
properly, so that she's not associating anything positive
with humans and warm formula is definitely
something positive.
So, I'm going to be wearing this disguise.
First this, then a mask, cover my face,
which I'll have down, once I'm in with her.
And then I also want a way of protecting my arms
because like we talked about,
these otters have sharp teeth.
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Once a pup has been weaned from their surrogate,
they will spend more time in a tank
with different companion animals, working on socialization,
continuing to learn how to forage independently.
And, at the point, in which we see that they are consistent
in their behavior, body condition looks good,
coat condition looks good.
And around nine to 10 months is really the time
when we would start considering releasing.
Given that we spend so much time working with these otters
and rehabilitating them and having gone through
the surrogacy program, we want to make sure
that there is a way that we can track them
and monitor their progress, once they're released
back into the wild.
So, before they go, they are outfitted
with some of these accessories.
The first thing that they get is a radio transmitter,
that is surgically implanted in their abdomen.
And this transmitter will be able to emit a signal
every time they're at the surface of the water.
And if we have an antenna and a receiver,
we can find them and hear them when they're foraging
or grooming at the surface of the water.
The other thing that they will get are flipper tags.
Combination of two flipper tags, one on each flipper,
so that we can visually identify them
when they're out in the water.
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Visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website,
montereybayaquarium.org, to learn more
about how you can donate and help.
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