Rescued Sea Otter Pup Has New Home At SeaWorld San Diego

SAN DIEGO, CA — SeaWorld San Diego recently welcomed a rescued southern sea otter pup, the theme park announced Wednesday on World Otter Day.

The sea otter, whose name is Rey, was rescued in August 2023 after stranding in Morro Bay. She was just 3 days old.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists tried to find her mother, but no adult female sea otters were found in the area.

Rey was taken to Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she was placed in the facility's sea otter surrogacy program for rehabilitation with the intent of being released back into the wild. During the first few weeks of pairing with a sea otter surrogate mother, however, staff noted her weight was not increasing at a normal rate and sections of her fur were not well groomed.

Rey underwent a health exam and was found to have elevated liver enzymes and inflammation, according to SeaWorld. Surrogacy was discontinued while she underwent treatment.

At 10 months old, Rey is stable with her liver enzyme values and weight improving. Restarting surrogacy at her age is unlikely to be successful, however, and would likely cause additional stress, according to SeaWorld. Therefore, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deemed Rey non-releasable and transferred her to SeaWorld San Diego in February.

"We are glad to give Rey a home at Wild Arctic and are very pleased with her adjustment so far," said John Stewart, zoological curator at SeaWorld San Diego.

Southern sea otters are found exclusively along the coast of Central California and can also be seen at SeaWorld's Wild Arctic animal exhibit, where Rey will soon celebrate her first birthday.

"Rey is now fully acclimated with all our Southern sea otters and is beginning to exhibit a curious personality," Stewart said. "She is exploring her new environment at Wild Arctic, and we are looking forward to celebrating her first birthday in August."