“Otter 501”
Documents
A Marine Pup
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Not quite a nature
documentary, not quite a docudrama, “Otter 501” is more of a fictionalized
documentary.
Based on a story by Mark
Shelly, “Otter 501” follows Katie Pofahl, a young woman whose interest in these
marine mammals is sparked by rescuing a baby otter while kayaking in the ocean
off Monterey, California.
So instead of taking the
summer off and being a surf bum, she sets out to learn more about sea otters by
joining a rescue group.
Talking into her
computer’s camera and posting on Facebook, she creates a visual diary of “this
otter thing … an adventure of its own.”
She discovers good news
and bad news: The good news is that Otter 501 survived and is being cared for
at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The bad news is that volunteers don’t get any
cuddle time with otters, spending much of their time shoveling poop.
“Otters are the least
boring animals I’ve ever seen,” Katie tells us as she follows 501, the pup she
rescued. Placed with a surrogate otter mother named Toola, 501 learns to use
tools, groom herself, how to dive, and master other skills that will allow her
to survive in the wild.
Otter pups sleep ten
hours a day. A senior volunteer must groom 501 three hours a day, because
otters rely on their fur rather than blubber to keep warm in cold water (about
the temperature of a refrigerator). A million hairs per square inch, it’s the
densest fur on the planet.
A fashion fad for otter
fur pushed the animals toward extinction. Now they are protected by law.
“The real wonder is how
they survive out there at all,” Katie notes. But 501 does.
As Katie describes it,
“The mystery, the marvel, the danger.” The life of a sea otter.
srhoades@aol.com
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