Orphaned otter pup finds new mom in surrogate program

Long Beach: When rescuers spotted a 2-week-old otter pup alone on Asilomar State Beach, they knew she needed more than milk. She needed a mom. That’s how Sunny, barely big enough to float, ended up with Rey, a maternal-aged otter at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Rey was once an orphaned pup herself, found alone on a California beach years ago.

It’s a full-circle moment now playing out through the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s pioneering surrogate program, which pairs orphaned pups with adult females who can teach them how to be otters.

Sunny and Rey have since moved to the Aquarium’s otter rehabilitation center in Long Beach, where staff say the pair are bonding well. The two will likely remain in human care. Both are too accustomed to people and lack the wild experience to avoid key dangers like boats, sharks, and pollution.

Still, Sunny has a lot to learn. Rey is already teaching her how to find, catch, and open food, core skills for any sea otter, no matter where she ends up living. Megan Smylie, the sea otter program manager at Monterey Bay Aquarium, said the pair were recently seen manipulating false crab shells, an important foraging step. Next up: tool use. Sea otters are famously smart and have been recorded opening doors and unscrewing nuts from bolts.

While Sunny and Rey are destined for an aquarium enclosure, the program has broader impact. Monterey Bay Aquarium has successfully rehabilitated nine southern sea otters and released them back into the wild, thanks in part to surrogacy. For pups like Sunny who once had no hope, the program offers a path to adulthood.

Rey, once rescued herself, is now the rescuer. And for Sunny, survival started with a second chance at family.