Animal Rescue Captures Heartwarming Moment an Otter Mom Reunites with Her Stranded Baby

Thanks to a dedicated marine team, a mother otter and her pup are safe, happy, and together again.

The Marine Mammal Center in San Luis Obispo returned a baby otter pup to its mother on Oct. 20, prompting an adorable reunion in Morro Bay, California. The heartwarming moment, caught on video and shared on Facebook, came after the Marine Mammal Center spent hours trying to locate the pup’s mother to ensure the pup — whom the center had found stranded and named Caterpillar — got home safely.

In the video’s caption, the Marine Mammal Center shared that the team had searched for the mom for about two hours by boat — but that was just the beginning of the team’s efforts. Next, they recorded Caterpillar’s vocalizations and then played the sounds on a Bluetooth speaker in an attempt to attract its mother. When the team noticed a female otter approaching and following the boat, they knew she was the pup’s mother.

The video of the reunion shows the team pausing at a safe distance away from the pup’s mother, holding out Caterpillar, and letting the baby otter cry out when the mother is in sight. The team then carefully lowers Caterpillar into the water, where the mother rushes to scoop her pup up as the two share a wiggly embrace.

In the clip, the mother otter and her pup then paddle away from the boat into deeper water, although the Marine Mammal Center team kept an eye on them from afar afterwards.

“After Caterpillar and mom were reunited, the team watched for another hour to be sure the pair was safe,” the post’s caption read. “We love a happy ending 🤩 Special thank you to our friends at Morro Bay Harbor Department for assisting us with this rescue.”

The Marine Mammal Center then encouraged locals to contact them if they see a sick or stranded marine mammal — including otter pups that appear to be on their own, like Caterpillar. The center also emphasized the importance of humans maintaining their distance for the safety of both animals and humans.

Caterpillar’s reunion with itheir mother was the first the Marine Mammal Center has seen in six years, the group told The Tribune.

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Christine Heinrichs, a volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center and a San Luis Obispo resident, told the outlet that otters in the Morro Bay area are facing far more challenges — ocean heat waves, human interference, and urchin threats to the kelp forests — than they did a decade ago.

The environmental threats, unfortunately, make mother-pup separations more common, Heinrichs said.