There are lots of ways to save sea otters. You can start by not polluting the oceans, or you can donate money to an aquarium, or the Marine Mammal Rescue Center.

An organization called SORAC helps and rescues otters. SORAC stands for Sea Otter Research And C onservation.  Students from the Santa Cruz University have volunteered 15 to 20 hours to clean pools, prepare food, and take care of sea otters.

SORAC began in the mid1980’s for the few animals with health or attitude problems that  haven’t fit in with the wild. This rehab program and facility were not designed for a long time living area, and the non-releasable animals were taking up the time and space for the stranded animals the program was designed to take care of. They also take in sick or abandon pups. The SORAC team raises the pups, and if the team thinks the pup can survive in the wild, then they release it back into the wild. 

Until SORAC “donated” sea otters that were well enough to go to a new “habitat”. (Which is the Northern American Aquariums), the aquariums usually got their sea otters by capturing them from the wild, which is illegal for the Southern Sea Otters.  Unreleasable SORAC otters are living at SeaWorld San Diego, Colorado’s Ocean Journey, Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, New York Aquarium, Oregon Zoo, Aquarium of the Americas, and the New England Aquarium.

The Marine Mammal Rescue Center rescues marine mammals and returns them to the wild. Their website contains information on the indivdual animals they have rescued, including sea otters and how they were returned to the wild.

Another way to help sea otters is to not pollute the ocean, so the sea otters will could have a healthy and clean place to swim and catch their food.  Then sea otters won’t be forced to swim very far away, or swim in dirty or oily water.   You can start by cleaning or adopting a part of a beach, and clean up the pollution in the town where you live.

Besides SORAC their are other private and government organizations that team up to save Sea Otters from extinction.  Private organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Friends of the Sea Otter work together with California Department of Fish and Game, Western Ecological Research Center, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  See our links section.