Vancouver Aquarium celebrates ‘rescueversary’ of sea otter Kunik
Posted March 29, 2025 11:59 am.
Last Updated March 29, 2025 12:39 pm.
An otter-ly adorable anniversary was celebrated this week at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Kunik, a female sea otter, was deemed non-releasable by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when she was rescued near Homer, Alaska, in March 2016. After being rehabilitated at the Alaska Sealife Center, she was brought to Vancouver in Nov. 2016, along with another otter, Mak.
“A bright and inquisitive otter, Kunik has been nicknamed the Ice Queen as she’s known for her love of ice, even more so than the average sea otter,” the aquarium said in a news release.
The Vancouver Aquarium says all of the sea otters living there were rescued as orphaned pups.
“They have all been deemed non-releasable by Canadian and U.S. government agencies because they were all too young at rescue to have the necessary life skills to survive on their own in the wild,” it said.
The exhibit’s sea otters are very popular online, with more than 40,000 subscribers to a live sea otter cam on the facility’s YouTube channel. Images of the critters holding hands while floating in their aquarium habitat at the aquarium have captured international attention.
