As crews continue to search for an aggressive sea otter that’s been caught on video stealing surfboards, the Monterey Bay Aquarium speaks out on its “interesting history.”“This otter was born in captivity up at UC Santa Cruz. It was not bred in captivity, but its mother was in the wild and had to be re-captured. And when they captured the mother, she was pregnant,” said Kevin Connor with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Subsequently, the sea otter pup — tagged 841 — and its mother were taken to the aquarium to be examined and cared for.
The pup was released in June 2020 after it was found to be healthy and old enough to survive in the wild.
“We have certain standards for release. They need to be a certain weight. They need to demonstrate they can feed themselves and that they can survive in the wild. Certainly, if an otter is displaying behavior when it’s with us, that says release may not be the best option that would get evaluated by Department of Fish and Wildlife,” said Connor.
The mother was determined to be unfit to stay in the wild and was taken to another aquarium.
“The pup (841) was born in captivity because the mom (723) had to be taken out of the wild due to being illegally fed by humans,” said an aquarium spokesperson, Emerson Brown.
Poor baby. I hope they find her and keep her safe. (And I wish humans wouldn’t feed wild animals.) In the meantime, surfers should find another spot!