Baby otter found crying alone in the surf rescued!

She was found in Carmel, California, rolling in the surf alone and crying.

Her rescuers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Otter Program suspect she was separated from her mother by high waves that swept her away and washed her ashore.

The pup's mom couldn't be found.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium sea otter expert who found the pup, walked up and down the shore with the 4 week old otter cradled in his arms, scanning the waves for any distressed adult otters that might be her mother. If mom were in the vicinity, she would recognize her pup’s piercing cries and possibly swim to shore to retrieve her. But no otters responded, and the pup, too young to survive on her own, was taken to Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The pup needed a home!

The pup might have been paired with one of the aquarium’s adult female otters in a unique technique that employs surrogate mothers to raise stranded pups for release back into the wild. Because a surrogate was not available, the next option was to find a qualified permanent home for the pup.

Luckily, the Shedd Aquarium had room available in their sea otter exhibit!

To get her ready for her big move to Chicago, the pup got acclimated to face-to-face human care during swimming practice...

grooming sessions...

and bottle feeding.

Karl Mayer, part of the Sea Otter Program, reported: “She’s a very robust and feisty pup...She’s diving consistently down to the bottom of her pool, she’s retrieving food and rocks and shells, and she’s very dexterous with her paws.”

Look at that face!