Meet Millie, Aquarium Of The Pacific's New Sea Otter

LONG BEACH, CA — The Aquarium of the Pacific is welcoming a new sea otter named Millie, who they hope will be a surrogate mother to orphaned sea otter pups as part of a new sea otter surrogacy program partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Aquarium announced Thursday. The aquarium partnership will help rehabilitate rescued sea otter pups, rear them with the help of surrogate mothers and coordinate their release back into the wild.

Millie, 4, joined the other sea otters that live in the Sea Otter Habitat at the Aquarium of the Pacific Thursday. Millie has successfully raised a pup previously, and she is "ideally suited to serve as a surrogate mom" based on her experience and disposition, the Aquarium of the Pacific news release said.

"We are pleased to partner with the Monterey Bay Aquarium to help this threatened species recover," Dr. Sandy Trautwein, Aquarium of the Pacific vice president of animal husbandry, said. "This program not only helps increase the chances of survival for orphaned sea otters in the wild, but also helps ecosystems off the coast of California recover."

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has rescued, rehabilitated, and released stranded sea otter pups since the 1980s, the news release said. This program has an established record of success releasing otters back to the wild and has been proven to help in the recovery of wild populations. According to a 2019 study, pups released back into the wild through this program, and their offspring, account for more than half of the sea otter population growth in Elkhorn Slough, a critical habitat in Monterey Bay, from 2002 to 2016.

"We have developed this successful surrogacy program over three decades, learning the best way to care for these pups and understanding the potential benefit they bring to marine ecosystems," Michelle Staedler, Monterey Bay Aquarium sea otter program manager, said."Partnering with the Aquarium of the Pacific will help us save more otters and benefit ocean health on the California coast."

The new surrogacy area at the Long Beach aquarium will be built behind the scenes of its Molina Animal Care Center, and will accommodate three to four rescued sea otter pups each year. The Aquarium of the Pacific will also develop material to educate the Aquarium’s visitors on the surrogacy program and the importance of recovering southern sea otter populations, the news release said.

A lead grant from the California’s State Coastal Conservancy Sea Otter Recovery Grant Program will support the initial construction of the sea otter surrogacy facility, and the Aquarium is also launching a fundraising campaign to support the surrogacy program. Anyone interested in getting involved and supporting this conservation work can visit the Aquarium's website and make a gift online or call (562) 951-1701