The walrus pup was writhing slowly on the frozen ground of an Alaskan oil field, and it was clearly in distress.
About four miles inland from the Beaufort Sea, a worker saw the 150-pound calf on the North Slope tundra near a road running through a ConocoPhillips Alaska oil field. The baby Pacific walrus was alone, and there were no adult walruses in sight.
Walrus pups in the wild rely on near-constant maternal care in their first two years of life, so the orphaned calf was clearly in trouble.
After consulting several wildlife agencies, ConocoPhillips airlifted the dehydrated walrus about 700 miles for treatment to the Alaska SeaLife Center’s Wildlife Response Programin Seward, said Carrie Goertz, a veterinarian who is director of animal health at the center.
“It’s unusual to get a walrus here — we’ve only had 10 of them [in 25 years],” Goertz said. “We don’t know how this particular baby became separated from his mother, but we knew that he wouldn’t survive without immediate intervention.”
“He’d apparently been out there for a while because he was in starvation mode,” Goertz added about the pup, which was found on July 31.
he and her staff quickly put together a plan to care for the walrus, which included antibiotics for a possible infection, treating him for dehydration and bottle-feeding him one liter of formula every three hours.
And there was one more critical element: The baby walrus would need to have someone available to cuddle with him, 24/7.
“Walruses are incredibly social,” Goertz explained. “Walruses love lying up against each other, so we want to emulate that closeness the best that we can.”
For more than a week, veterinary staff members have been taking turns sitting next to the whiskered marine mammal so he can snuggle up next to them if he wants to. He spends about 75 percent of his time sleeping.
“He basically cuddles us,” Goertz said. “We leave it up to him to decide, and he usually wants to. He’s also taking a bottle well, and that’s making his care a lot easier.”
Since Aug. 1, veterinary assistant Hanna Beane has been working eight-hour shifts bottle feeding and cuddling the calf she likes to call a “giant baked potato.”
“He’s really wrinkly and his skin is rough, and he seriously does remind me of a baked potato,” said Beane, 30. “I especially love his whiskers.”
The Alaska SeaLife Center is caring for a male Pacific walrus calf that arrived from the North Slope of Alaska on August 1, 2023. This is the Center’s first walrus patient in four years, and one of only ten admitted in the Center’s 25-year history, making this an exceptional case for the Wildlife Response Program and a rare opportunity for all involved.
The young walrus was spotted by workers on Alaska’s North Slope, about four miles inland from the Beaufort Sea — a highly unusual location for Pacific walrus, which reside almost exclusively in the ocean or near the western coastline. Observers reported a notable “walrus trail” on the tundra close to a road where he was discovered, although it is unknown how he arrived inland. Walrus calves depend on maternal care for their first two years of life, and with no adults in the vicinity, it was apparent that the wayward calf would not survive long without intervention.
With U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approval, the ASLC coordinated with Alaska Clean Seas and ConocoPhillips Alaska to provide shelter and arrange travel. The calf was moved to a warehouse, and teams kept a watchful eye on him overnight. ConocoPhillips Alaska graciously offered the use of one of the company’s planes for transport. Staff from both organizations then flew with the calf to the Seward Airport to meet with the ASLC team.
The transport team landed safely at the Seward Airport around 3 p.m. on August 1. The nearly 200 pound calf (estimated to be around a month old) was carefully moved into the ASLC Wildlife Response van, and brought under the care of an experienced ASLC wildlife response team. After an initial exam, the main concerns found by the veterinary team were malnutrition, dehydration, and a cloudy eye. Initial bloodwork confirmed that the calf was dehydrated, and suggested that he may be fighting an infection.
ASLC staff is currently following a 24-hour care regimen, which is more demanding than many other marine mammals require. Walruses are highly tactile and social animals, receiving near-constant care from their mothers during the first two years of life. To emulate this maternal closeness, round-the-clock “cuddling” is being provided to ensure the calf remains calm and develops in a healthy manner. Calves tend to habituate quickly to human care, and staff report that he is already eating formula from a bottle.
