Remembering Rosa

We’re saddened to share the news that our sea otter Rosa has passed away at the age of 24. 

In recent years, she began showing signs of age-related health concerns. Over the last few weeks, her health had been deteriorating. After an exam, the veterinary and animal care teams made the difficult choice to humanely euthanize Rosa because those health conditions were compromising her quality of life. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her caretakers.

A part of the sea otter raft at the Aquarium since 2002, Rosa was an important ambassador of her species and has delighted millions of visitors at the Aquarium as well as legions of online fans who watched her through the Sea Otter Cam and, in recent years, took part in virtual birthday celebrations for her, raising money for the Aquarium on her behalf. She also contributed to a number of research studies including helping to identify the size of the holes in crab traps that otters could get into. 

Rosa first came into the Aquarium’s Sea Otter Program in September 1999 after she was found stranded on a beach in Santa Cruz County at about four weeks old. After spending almost seven months at the Aquarium, Rosa was released to the wild in April 2000. Upon her release she proved too interested in humans, and after receiving several reports of her climbing onto occupied kayaks and interacting with scuba divers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that she should be removed from the wild because of the potential risk to herself and to people.

Back at the Aquarium, Rosa was an important part of our surrogate program, and reared 15 pups behind the scenes as a surrogate mother. She was instantly recognizable in our exhibit and on our cam thanks to her blonde head and her signature head-all-the-way-back swimming style.

Rosa will be greatly missed by all of us who got to know her over the years.