You otter be back with your mom, pup!

February 7, 2019 10:58 AM

Otter pup reunited with mom after humans use recording of lost baby otter to bring them back together.
posted by vespabelle (12 comments total)

I never thought I'd get the warm fuzzies from watching someone gently chuck a baby otter into the water.
posted by deludingmyself at 11:01 AM on February 7, 2019 [7 favorites]

wrap em up i'll take them both right now please
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:02 AM on February 7, 2019 [4 favorites]

Otterly wonderful.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:03 AM on February 7, 2019 [7 favorites]

Yay! I was also a little startled at the tossing of the baby otter.
posted by needlegrrl at 11:22 AM on February 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Yes- the toss seemed a tad... forceful?
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 11:44 AM on February 7, 2019

Yeah, placing the baby otter gently into the water by the boat would've had some risks -- at two days old, my understanding is that they can't swim effectively, and aside from whether the mom would approach if they'd gently put him down into the water by the side of the boat, you don't want to risk either the baby or the mother getting caught in the boat's undertow/getting pulled into the engine. Boat strikes are a significant cause of otter death.

So baby otter toss it is! Especially since baby otters at that age are essentially unsinkable -- a couple years back, Nature had a documentary about orphaned baby otters with a segment where you saw a somewhat older baby otter that still had natal pelage trying to dive. You'd see it get about a foot or so under the water when a wave passed over it, and the baby otter would paddle frantically because it wanted to dive, and then go shooting back up to the top like a cork.

It was exactly as cute as you imagine it is, and I had it on the DVR as a BREAK GLASS IN CASE OF VERY SAD DAY watch for a long, long time.

(As a side note, it's heartwarming that the fisherman took the time to get baby home to mom. Fisherman in the Bay area have traditionally not been fans of otters.)
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:44 AM on February 7, 2019 [17 favorites]

Approved
posted by The otter lady at 11:59 AM on February 7, 2019 [21 favorites]

That was really heartwarming! Thank you for posting it. I thought the article actually did a great job of explaining the whole process of finding mom and reuniting her with the pup.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:00 PM on February 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Hooray for Environmental Scientists! ^_^

(cue Seinfeld "is anyone here a "Marine Biologist? We need a Marine Biologist!")

Also, I am kind of imagining the mom otter being like "I was so scared to death! don't you ever float off like that again!" even though it happened because of the stormy weather.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 12:33 PM on February 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

Morro Bay is a great place for outdoor things. Super nice harbor for kayaking, otters all over, Morro Rock at the entrance usually gets Peregrine nests (they had 24/7 guards on that rock back in the 80s when they were endangered and chicks would fetch $50k+ to middle east falconers), surfing, diving, great seafood on the wharf.
posted by CrowGoat at 12:37 PM on February 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

"I was so scared to death! don't you ever float off like that again!

*ahem*
posted by Fizz at 12:47 PM on February 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Good news: the powers that be are adding an OTTER emoji this year.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:40 PM on February 7, 2019 [3 favorites]