Orphan Annie, Surrogate Parents Get On Swimmingly

Kodiak and Annie are among the lucky ones. The sea otter pups were rescued a few weeks ago from the oil-choked waters of Alaska’s Prince William Sound, where the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in March and spilled crude oil that killed more than 2,500 adult otters. Kodiak and Annie were transported to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where they are being raised by humans, along with an older pair of pups, Bear and Hoppy, who were found off California. The aquarium in Monterey is the only institution that has raised sea otter pups successfully. At first, the surrogate parents were worried that the pups would not be able to break their bonds with humans. “So we tried to maintain as little human contact with the pups as possible,” said Julie Hymer, who with David C. Powell heads the team of volunteers and professionals caring for the otters. “But now we’ve learned that gradually we can break the bond as the pups grow more independent, so we feel we’re finally on the right track at least.” Each day, Hymer and volunteers don wet suits and swim with the pups in a tide pool. The otters are thriving on a formula of mashed cod, clams, anchovies and half-and-half. They will graduate to eating bits of seafood. Later, food will be dropped in the tide pool so the pups can practice picking it off the bottom. “We have to provide them with a real-life environment slowly . . . We let them watch us foraging for food on the bottom and breaking open a shell, and eventually they learn for themselves,” Hymer said.

--After President Bush told children at a Washington day-care center that, “My mom is very ill,” the White House confirmed that Dorothy Walker Bush, 87, was hospitalized Monday in suburban Greenwich, Conn. White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said she is expected to be released this week. Elizabeth Bush, the President’s sister-in-law, visited Dorothy Bush and said she has a slight infection. “The doctors have given her antibiotics and she’s fine today,” she said.

--Surgeon General C. Everett Koop may be leaving his job this summer, but he still has a lot to say about health issues. So Koop, 72, plans to write a book after he ends his duties as the nation’s top health officer July 13, Owen Laster, of the William Morris Agency, said. Koop’s book will focus on his seven-year tenure as surgeon general and will include his opinion on various health issues, Laster said.