Rosa's Story

Rosa was found as an orphaned pup — only around 4 weeks old — stranded on a Santa Cruz County beach in September 1999. She was raised at the Aquarium for 7 months before being released back into the wild in April 2000. But 2 years later she returned to the aquarium after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service deemed she was becoming too friendly with humans, which posed a risk to herself and other people. Since then, she has remained at the aquarium as part of MBA's Sea Otter Program.

Doug and his community have raised an unbelievable 1 million dollars in total for Rosa and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, making her the world's richest and cutest geriatric otter. We don't know what she did with all of that money, but there has been a suspicious shortage of clams since 2019. Her adorableness and remarkable achievements as a surrogate mother have inspired waves of donations from fans all around the world, including amazing art pieces created by the DougDoug community on her birthday each year.