Make a Difference on World Otter Day
World Otter Day is Wednesday, May 27, 2026.
On World Otter Day, join us in celebrating otters and the amazing efforts of conservationists to protect them. The Sea Otter Fund (SOF) has one mission: to recover sea otters and restore the health of coastal ecosystems along their historical Pacific Coast range. Your generous support enables us to make lasting impacts toward that goal.
Continue learning about this keystone species and make a gift this World Otter Day to help them.
The story of sea otters is a story of hope in motion.
Once hunted to the brink of extinction, sea otters have made a remarkable comeback—from just 2,000 survivors to roughly 100,000 across the Pacific Rim. As ecosystem engineers, their recovery has revived kelp forests and seagrass meadows. But the work isn’t finished.
An 800-mile “otter gap” stretches between central California and northern Washington, where sea otters have been absent for over a century. Reintroduction has been the key to past success—one-third of all sea otters alive today are the result of translocation efforts—and grassroots momentum is now building to close this gap.
One year after the launch of the Sea Otter Fund, community-driven momentum and science-driven recovery are converging. By uniting partners across sectors and disciplines, we’re turning hope into action.
We hope you will join us in this story to bring otters back.
Community in Motion
Elakha Alliance
The long and uneven history of sea otter recovery has taught us one thing—that for reintroduction efforts to be successful, it is essential for the local community to be part of the process. The Elakha Alliance—pronounced ee-LAK-uh, meaning “sea otter” in the Chinook trading language—partners closely with Tribal nations to restore a vibrant sea otter population and a healthy marine ecosystem in Oregon. With funding from the SOF, their team is helping build technical capacity and legal frameworks for Tribal and state leadership to advance sea otter reintroduction into Oregon. SOF support has also helped Elakha Alliance write a $1.56 million federal grant for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians—the grant will enable them to coordinate collaboration between four Tribes in Oregon and Northern California with the goal of incorporating Tribal priorities into reintroduction planning.
Science in Motion
University of California, Santa Cruz
We know more about sea otters than ever before, and this knowledge will further strengthen the success of future reintroductions. Sea otters have a strong homing instinct, which can lead translocated adult otters to abandon their new homes. However, over the past two decades, sea otter scientists stumbled upon a possible solution: when orphaned wild sea otter pups are raised in captivity and released into the wild, they remain in their new home. With support from the SOF, sea otter biologist and University of California, Santa Cruz affiliate Michelle Staedler is studying a unique population of sea otters in the Elkhorn Slough descended from orphaned pups raised in captivity. Her study examines sea otter habitat use, foraging, and social networks, and will inform new approaches for selecting individual otters to improve the success of reintroductions and the well-being of otters.
Partners in Motion
Sea Otter Tagging Tech Team
In addition to deploying funding, the SOF builds partnerships among supporters and conservationists. This includes nurturing a connected network to facilitate innovation and collaboration among sea otter conservationists. Tagging is essential to track sea otter survival and understand their behavior after reintroduction. But with their thick skin, intensive grooming, and salty lifestyle, these active marine mammals present unique engineering challenges. To address these, the SOF regularly convenes a group of 20 biologists, managers, veterinarians, conservationists, and engineers to explore how recent GPS technological advances may solve this dilemma.
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You can make a difference this World Otter Day by supporting on-the-ground conservation efforts.
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