SEWARD, Alaska – A very rare rescue joined the Alaska SeaLife Center in August. A baby walrus joined the crew, and this is the center’s first walrus in four years and only the tenth in the center’s 25-year history. Doctors ordered “round-the-clock cuddling.”
“Walruses are highly tactile and social animals, receiving near-constant care from their mothers during the first two years of life,” said the center’s website.
“To emulate this maternal closeness, round-the-clock ‘cuddling’ is being provided to ensure the calf remains calm and develops in a healthy manner,” the statement continues. “Calves tend to habituate quickly to human care, and staff reports that he is already eating formula from a bottle.”
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Staff and volunteers take shifts cuddling and bottle feeding the 140-pound baby 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Vets estimate the male Pacific walrus to be about one-month old.
“After an initial exam, the main concerns found by the veterinary team were malnutrition, dehydration, and a cloudy eye,” said the statement. “Initial blood work confirmed that the calf was dehydrated and suggested that he may be fighting an infection.”
Workers on Alaska’s North Slope found the baby four miles inland from the Beaufort Sea.
“A highly unusual location for Pacific walrus, which reside almost exclusively in the ocean or near the western coastline,” the center said. “It is unknown how he arrived inland.”
With no mama in sight, rescuers felt the calf would not survive long in nature. He was brought to the Alaska SeaLife Center.
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“We are lucky that his first night went well,” said ASLC Wildlife Response Curator Jane Belovarac. “It isn’t often that we’re able to admit a walrus calf, but every time we do, we learn more about the species and how to care for them.”