After 3,000-mile journey, baby otter calls Shedd home

The story of how a young sea otter in Chicago made its way from the coast of Alaska to Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium begins on a cold October morning in the small town of Seldovia.

Members of the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) discovered a small fur ball along the shores of Seldovia Bay, near the water’s edge that appeared to be abandoned. Seldovia Bay is a region of Alaska approximately 6 hours’ drive and ferry ride south of the state’s highest point, the densely populated city of Anchorage.

“When puppies are this young, mom is always near or with them,” says Katie Roxbury, senior trainer at Shedd Aquarium. “So the fact that they didn’t see the females raised some alarm.”

Sea otters in southwestern Alaska are now considered an endangered species and their numbers have declined dramatically in recent years, leading the ASLC team to bring the little guy to a facility in hopes of nursing the little guy back to health.

There are only a few centers in the United States that can provide the 24/7 care a baby sea otter needs to survive the first few months of its life. So Shedd Aquarium stepped in, escorting the pup across the country, from Alaska all the way to Indiana where a team of experts awaited the pup.

According to calcmaps.com, the straight-line distance from Shedd Aquarium to Seldovia, Alaska is approximately 2,920 miles, while if you wanted to drive from Shedd to Seldovia, Google Maps would tell you it would take approximately 66 hours and 3,826 miles One-mile one-way journey across international borders by car and ferry.

Luckily for the little sea otter, though, he was able to hop on a plane.

“I drove to Indianapolis in the middle of the night to pick him up,” said Lana Gonzalez, penguin and sea otter manager at the Shedd Aquarium. “‘Then it finally worked. [back to the Shedd Aquarium] It was around 5 o’clock that morning. “

Just as the sun was rising, a Shedd Aquarium-branded van pulled into the aquarium parking lot carrying an 8-pound bundle of small toys.

Staff say it’s like bringing home a brand new baby, with the team doing everything from preparing bottles filled with sea otter food to giving him a sea otter massage.

“He’s fed seven times a day now,” said one of Shedd’s staff. “[We feed him] Just like human babies. “

Feeding a sea otter seven times a day may sound like Shedd staff are stuffing him with food, but according to staff, sea otter calves his age typically eat nearly 25 percent of their body weight each day for continued nutrition. A necessity.

“He’s little, but furry,” Gonzalez said. “It’s amazing because they look at you and you just hold them and groom them and know that if we can’t take it in, it has no other options in life.”

Shedd will need at least another month of intensive care before he can introduce the new sea otter to the other five rescued sea otters, as teams work around-the-clock shifts to care for him.

Roxbury said staff designed a special enclosure just for the baby sea otters to help them return to a normal life.

“We were able to turn this into his little nursery,” Roxbury said. “It’s a little shallow so he can learn key diving skills. [and] How to eat solid food. “

Visitors don’t get to see the countless hours that go into caring for furry critters like baby sea otters behind the scenes, but the team says every sleepless night is worth it to give abandoned sea pups a second chance at life.

“Just being able to have him here and be an ambassador for his species,” one staff member said. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself and say, “This is what I do every day,” So it’s absolutely amazing. “