Aquarium Mourns Brook The Southern Sea Otter

LONG BEACH, CA –Brook, a southern sea otter at the Aquarium of the Pacific, died Tuesday. She was 21.

Brook was diagnosed with congestive heart failure by the Aquarium’s veterinary team earlier this month, the press release said. She was the oldest female southern sea otter at any zoo or aquarium.

"Brook was known for her photogenic looks and regal demeanor, which landed her image on banners, brochures, and other Aquarium publications and advertisements throughout her life and secured her place in the hearts of the Aquarium’s staff, members, and the public," the Aquarium of the Pacific said.

Brook is survived by Charlie, the Aquarium of the Pacific's other senior otter, who arrived at the aquarium around the same time as Brook. Both had been orphaned during the fierce El Niño storms in 1997, the press release said. Charlie's twenty-second birthday is in March, which makes him the oldest southern sea otter living at a zoo or aquarium.

Brook arrived at the Aquarium in 1998 before the facility opened to the public as one of its original charter animals, the press release said. She was found as a two-week-old pup, stranded in Northern California, and was rescued and housed at a marine mammal center. Otter experts determined it was not possible to release her back into the wild after she went through a rehabilitation program, because she had not learned survival skills from her mother as sea otter pups typically do, the aquarium said.

In the wild, southern sea otters typically live between ten and fourteen years for males and twelve to eighteen years for females. In a zoo or aquarium environment, they can live up to twenty years or more. Instead of the annual Otter Bowl, the Aquarium’s staff will host a tribute to Brook and post a tribute video on social media on Sunday, Feb. 3.

California’s southern sea otters are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. After hunting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries nearly wiped out the entire population, by 1938 only 50 of the animals remained, the aquarium said. Conservation efforts have grown the population to nearly 3,000, but these animals still face threats including ocean pollution and habitat loss.

Photo courtesy of Robin Riggs/The Aquarium of the Pacific