Overview
- A call reported a stranded pup near the Morro Bay Embarcadero, prompting a Marine Mammal Center response.
- The team deployed rescue gear and looped a one-minute recording of pup cries on a speaker to draw the mother.
- An adult otter repeatedly followed and approached the boat, which staff used as the key indicator of a match.
- After roughly two hours, rescuers placed the pup, nicknamed Caterpillar, in the water and the adult retrieved it.
- The center notes this is the first local reunification since 2019, with Southern sea otters still listed as threatened at about 3,000 animals.