Mobile Vet Set-Up

On site veterinary support is critical for field research of wild sea otters as well as during an oil spill.  Specially equipped mobile veterinary labs are used to examine, anesthetize, and insert a transmitter and/or flipper tag sea otters just yards from where they are captured.

Mobile veterinary care makes the entire process less stressful for the sea otter because it eliminates a long transport or stay in a pool and during an oil spill, these units can be used to stabilize sea otters if necessary before they are transported to an appropriate facility. In the images below, you will see much of the equipment that is used during the intake examine in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife mobile veterinary care unit.