Otter will be released on Washington coast

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Saturday, February 16, 2002

SEATTLE -- State and federal wildlife officials are taking steps to return a playful, young sea otter back to the wild after she's spent the last several months cozying up to boaters and kayakers in Dumas Bay.

Wildlife officials caught "Dumas," the celebrity otter Thursday on Redondo Beach near Federal Way, then took her to the Seattle Aquarium for a health check and overnight stay.

They plan to release her soon along the Washington coast, where hundreds of her kin thrive.

Dumas, between 2 and 3 years old and 40 and 50 pounds, started hanging out in the bay between Seattle and Tacoma last summer, and has become increasingly comfortable with people, entertaining kayakers, boaters, residents and beachgoers around the bay and, most recently, the Redondo pier and boardwalk.

She would often take a break from diving, feeding and preening and swim close to watercraft and people. Some petted her. Others fed her.

"This animal will literally crawl into somebody's lap if they're on the beach ... to snuggle with them," said Toni Frohof, a Bainbridge Island behavioral biologist who works for the Humane Society.

Dumas entranced onlookers, but wildlife officials say her pet-like behavior put her at risk.

"If people had not fed her, if people had not habituated her, if people had let her be a wild otter, we would not have to take her out," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Doug Zimmer told a Tacoma newspaper.

"We would leave her to let her do what she wants to do," Zimmer said.

Zimmer said the decision to move the otter came after weeks of consultation with marine mammal biologists.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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