The 150-pound walrus calf was discovered alone and affected by malnutrition and dehydration about 4 miles inland from the Beaufort Sea, with no grownup walruses in sight. Usually, younger walruses are continually cared for by their moms for the primary two years of life, so the orphaned pup’s solitude instantly signaled hassle to wildlife rescue employees.
The pup was airlifted 700 miles and admitted to the Alaska SeaLife Middle’s Wildlife Response Program in Seward, Alaska. There, wildlife rescue employees organized a 24/7 rotation in order that the newborn walrus would by no means be with out care, which included bottle-feedings and near-constant bodily contact from human caretakers, who provided cuddles and luxury through the pup’s closing days.
Discovering an orphaned walrus pup could be very uncommon, Carrie Goertz, a veterinarian who’s director of animal well being on the heart, advised The Washington Put up final week. The rescue program has obtained solely about 10 walruses over the past 25 years, she mentioned. The extremely social animals spend most of their time mendacity collectively within the wild, so rescuers wished to breed these situations as a lot as potential by offering human companions for the pup to snuggle, Goertz added.
Sadly, regardless of rescuers’ greatest efforts, the younger mammal suffered nutrient malabsorption that prompted different issues, together with hypoglycemia and gastrointestinal issues within the day earlier than he died, the middle mentioned.
“Though our animal care teams worked tirelessly to provide round-the-clock critical care treatments, never leaving his side, the calf ultimately succumbed to his condition,” the middle mentioned in a press release, including {that a} veterinarian would carry out a necropsy to be taught extra about what prompted the animal’s demise.
