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DFO says B.C. sea otter pup Quatse can’t be released, will now live at aquarium

Quatse has been moved to a habitat at the Vancouver Aquarium
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Quatse, the abandoned sea otter pup who was rescued in Port Hardy. (Marine Mammal Rescue Centre photo)

Quatse the abandoned sea otter pup has been deemed non-releasable by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

According to the Marine Mammal Rescue (MMR) centre’s Instagram page, the pup has now left the centre in Vancouver after the federal government “decided that due to the young age at which she was rescued, Quatse would not be able to survive on her own.

“Foraging for live food and avoiding predators are skills that she would have picked up from her mother, and that long period of maternal learning is something staff at the rescue centre cannot replace.”

Quatse has been moved to a habitat at the Vancouver Aquarium, where she will eventually join the existing group of seven rescued sea otters, confirmed MMR.

Quatse was admitted to the centre back in early March after being rescued from a beach in Port Hardy after becoming separated from her mother.

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RELATED: Quatse the abandoned sea otter pup recovering after Port Hardy rescue


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Tyson Whitney

About the Author: Tyson Whitney

I have been working in the community newspaper business for nearly a decade, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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