A stranded sea otter pup was successfully reunited with its mom in Morro Bay, Calif.
Marine Experts Reunite Sea Otter Pup With Mother by Playing Recording of Pup's Cries
A baby sea otter happily reunited with its mother after the pup was found stranded in Morro Bay, Calif., recently.
Experts from the Marine Mammal Center in San Luis Obispo were able to carry out the lovely reunion and capture the rescue on camera, with the story making the rounds ever since — because it's just that adorable.
The Marine Mammal Center in Morro Bay, Calif., shared footage of a reunion between a stranded sea otter pup and its mama.
On October 20, the Marine Mammal Center responded to a call about a stranded sea otter pup that was heard crying. The two-week-old animal was found alone, which can be incredibly dangerous for a sea otter that young.
"That pup is really relying on everything it learns from the mother to be able to survive in the ocean," Shayla Zink from the Center told the Associated Press.
The marine pros thankfully found the pup quickly and were able to secure it into a safe carrier crate.
Thanks to the Morro Bay Harbor Patrol, the Marine Mammal Center team was able to borrow a boat to facilitate the reunion between the pup and its lost mom.
Experts were able to reunite a stranded sea otter pup with its mom.
The pup was making loud crying noises, which allowed the rescue team to find it in the first place, and would help it to find its mom if she was nearby.
That said, the experts knew that the pup would get too tired after a while and stop making the cries, so they had the genius idea to record the cries, something which had been done successfully once before.
From there, they used a bluetooth speaker while sailing around the bay to play back the cries and hopefully attract the mother.
"Our intern had kept hitting play every once a minute," said Zink. "I think we all went home and it was still playing over and over in our brains."
Experts played a recording of the pup's cries to reunite it with its mother.
It was hard, thankless work for a while, but finally after two hours, a female sea otter began to circle and approach the boat repeatedly. This wouldn't really have happened in any other circumstances, with adult sea otters not particularly interested in what humans are up to.
The team figured out that this really was the baby's mom after they tried playing the recording on one side of the boat and then on the other, and the adult otter followed the sound reliably.
Both pup and mother appeared to swim off safely.
Once they felt sure it was the right thing to do, the seafaring experts lowered the pup carefully into the water and the mom eventually approached, grabbing her little one and smelling him, checking that he was all okay. Then, she swam away with him in his arms.
The Marine Mammal Center shared sweet footage of the rescue on social media, using the name "Caterpillar" to designate the pup.
After mom and pup were reunited, the experts stuck around for about an hour to make sure all was well, which it was. "I definitely cried a bit," said Zink. Fair enough, we would have too.