His mom is believed to have abandoned him at just 2 weeks old.
This little otter pup is settling into his new home just fine.
The 2-month-old now spends his days splashing and being pampered by zookeepers at the Oregon Zoo after being rescued off the coast of California.
“He’s learning to dive now and loves showing off,” the zoo’s marine life keeper, Sara Morgan, said in a statement. “He’s full of spunk, very squeaky and fun to be around. He also takes a lot of naps — that’s when he’s at his fluffiest.”
She added that the baby sea otter, weighing only 14 pounds, prefers to eat shrimp over squid.
The pup is currently being housed in the zoo’s marine nursery and will join adult sea otters Eddie and Juno next month.
The zoo believes “805” — a name assigned to him by rescuers — was abandoned by his mother when he was just two weeks old in October.
Rescuers then attempted to find him a surrogate mother, but he was eventually determined to be non-releasable by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The zoo's statement explained that while sea otters were once abundant on the west coast, they were hunted to extinction in the early 1900s. Despite now being protected from hunting under law, oil spills and fishing nets continue to threaten the species.
RELATED STORIES
