Summary
Sea otter pups require extraordinary care in rehabilitation centers. Along with specialized facilities, orphaned pups demand twenty-four hour support to meet nutritional, thermoregulatory, and husbandry needs. As the young animals develop, the demands placed on the rehabilitation staff decrease. At age three to four months they will begin to swim, groom, and feed on their own; this marks the beginning of their transition to an independent adult life in captivity. For a review of techniques that will prepare a captive-reared pup for release into the wild, see Hymer (1991) and Williams and Hymer (1992).