A pair of orphaned sea otters are settling into their new home at the Vancouver Aquarium.
The pups, dubbed Tofino and Luna, were rescued from islands near Tofino earlier this summer after being abandoned by their mothers.
The duo had been receiving critical care at the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, but have now stabilized enough to move to the aquarium.
Visitors can now see three-month-old Tofino in her special nursery, while Luna is still undergoing care away from the public.
Aquarium marine mammal curator Juliana Kirkelie-Kim said both young pups still require constant care.
“It’s kind of like a human baby where you are feeding them every two to three hours, we bottle feed them, we take them to the bathroom, we groom their coats,” she said.
“We are never as good as mom but we do a pretty good job.”
Once an orphaned pup is rescued, it undergoes an emergency evaluation by veterinarians who check its blood sugar levels, body temperature and coat condition.
Tofino, who was just two kilograms when she was found, has tripled in size but needs to be kept separate from the other otters at the aquarium because she’s still learning how to regulate her temperature, how to find food and how to groom herself, Kirkelie-Kim.
Even so, she’s being introduced to her peers through a glass barrier and also has the chance to get used to the sounds and smells of others of her kind.
“As soon as we see she is strong enough to swim, haul out and do all the otter things and she also knows her name and knows where to get her food, we will start to first introduce her to the other younger otters and then the female otters,” Kirkelie-Kim said.
While the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre has an 80 per cent release rate for animals it cares for, both Tofino and Luna will become permanent residents at the Vancouver Aquarium.
That’s because due to the intensity of human interaction they require and the inability of staff to teach them ocean survival skills federal officials have deemed the pups poor candidates for release, said Kirkelie-Kim.
Kirkelie-Kim said young pups can be abandoned for a variety of reasons, ranging from separation during a storm to predation or illness.
But she warned that people who see what they think is an abandoned baby animal shouldn’t make any assumptions, noting that their mothers may be off and foraging. Anyone who believes they have found an abandoned marine mammal should call the Department of Fisheries and Oceans before doing anything.