To help the pup back to her mother, a senior sea otter biologist can be seen in the video gently tossing her back into the water.
When a 2-day-old sea otter pup was found separated from her mom, officials did everything they could to make sure the pair were reunited, even though successful reunions can be incredibly rare.
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The California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported on their Facebook that a pup was spotted floating around Morro Bay alone.
In a video posted by the Marine Mammal Center, who speculated that strong ocean tides caused this 2-day-old sea otter pup to accidently drift away from her mother, the pup can be heard crying.
So the harbor patrol scooped up the baby sea otter, determined she was healthy, and began searching for her mother.
They searched almost a mile of the bay, and showed various adult sea otters in the area the abandoned baby, hoping one of them would respond.
Finally, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said when officials finally found the pup's mother, "she instantly responded to the pup as it vocalized from the boat."
To help the pup back to her mother, a senior sea otter biologist can be seen in the video gently tossing her back into the water.
"Sea otter pups physically can't sink," The Marine Mammal Center explained in a Facebook post, adding that even when held underwater, a sea otter pup would bounce back to the surface.
The rescue also explained that the toss was the only way to put distance between the boat and the pup, since the mother sea otter would not get her baby if she had been too close to the boat.
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Within seconds, the pup's mother can be seen emerging from underneath the water, plucking her baby from the surface, and swimming away.
"There are very few successful reunites so this is something to celebrate," the rescue wrote.
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