I need help collecting information related to sea otters that existed in Korea.

Although there are no sea otters in Korea now, 63 SeaWorld, the predecessor of the 63 Aqua Planet, imported four female sea otters from Alaska in 1994 and one male sea otter from Japan in 1998 to raised them until the early 2000s.

The information about these sea otters has been scattered in various media articles, so I've been compiling data about them on my personal blog for some time now as a piece of writing. But there's something I want to ask zoochatters for help. That's are the place where these sea otters were caught right in Alaska, and the location of the facility where 63 SeaWorld exported the sea otters.


The first four sea otters imported are described in the media data of the time as being caught at the 'Lason' Bay(라손만) in Alaska. Given the similarity of pronunciation, I think this place would be Larsen Bay on kodiak Island, but if you have any other opinions, please let me know.

It is not clear whether the sea otters disappeared from 63 SeaWorld because they were exported, but the 1995 news said that the cost of food offered to sea otters was high, but that the sea otters were not doing any tricks to show to visitors, and a news reports in 1998 said the 1997 korean financial crisis at the time made it difficult for 63 SeaWorld to pay for sea otters' food and changed that into cheaper type food.

Therefore, I think these sea otters may have been shipped abroad due to maintenance costs. So, if you have ever seen a record of exported sea otters from Korea, please let me know.

 

Thank you. Thanks to you, I knew about the existence of the CITES Import and Export Database and checked it myself. I saw media reports in 1994 that said five sea otters were being imported to Korea.

In fact, there were four sea otters imported, so I thought it was just a wrong news. But, maybe one died on the way.

 

Does the Republic of Korea (South) have zoo legislation or minimum standards of operation requirements for zoos and aquaria?

(What you describe to me is an animal welfare situation where nutrition is compromised by commercial interests and possibly sub standard new feeding regime has subjected the sea otters to inadequate feeding, a serious animal health and welfare issue).

 

It was in 2016 that the law on the operation of zoos and aquariums was enacted in Korea, and it was in effect in May 2017. However, I don't think 63 Sea World was negligent in managing sea otters.

Previously mentioned newspaper reports in 1996('1995' was a typo.) said 63 Sea World paid 50 million Korean won, over 40 thousand USA dollars to paid a year for food for sea otters, that was one-third of 63 Sea World's total food for animals a year.

Also, that article explained that the food served to sea otters is a high-quality food, and doctors visit and diagnosis more than once a week. Although a paper that Published in 1999 said four sea otters of 63 Seaworld were suffered diarrhea by infected with Plesiomonas shigelloids and one died, overall, 63 Seaworld would not have been negligent in managing the sea otters.

 

In 1997，a male sea otter named Shin Shin went to the 63 seaworld from Oita Marine Palace Aquarium. I don't know which year Shin Shin returned to Japan