Welcome

Wildfires, smoke and air quality are top of mind for many of us in the western U.S., and our hearts go out to those who have been directly impacted by the fires. All is safe at the Seattle Aquarium but, due to very poor air quality in our region, we’ve been closed to the public since last Friday afternoon to help protect the health of our guests, staff, and volunteers.

How does poor air quality affect the animals in our care? It depends on the species as well as individual underlying health conditions, if any. “Fish and many aquatic invertebrates do their gas exchange across gills—and smoke and ash shouldn’t have any direct impact on the quality of our water,” explains Senior Veterinarian Dr. Caitlin Hadfield.

We recently announced the heartbreaking and unexpected loss of our eight-year-old male northern fur seal, Leu. Our deepest thanks to everyone who has shared condolences and memories with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We hope you’ll enjoy the memorial video below.

We also wanted to provide an update on what we understand so far about the cause of Leu’s death. As we shared in our previous blog post, Seattle Aquarium animal care staff discovered Leu unresponsive in his habitat early in the morning on August 26. They quickly initiated our rescue protocol and applied CPR. Despite their best efforts, Leu couldn’t be revived.

There are pregnant orca moms in all three of the endangered southern resident pods—J, K and L!

These orcas are at their lowest population in over three decades. New calves would be incredibly special in their own rights, but also essential to reverse the downward population trend.

Dr. Holly Fearnbach of the nonprofit SR3 and Dr. John Durban of Southall Environmental Associates discovered these pregnancies this summer. They use aerial images to study individual orcas’ body conditions over time.

Pregnancies are very good news, and we are celebrating. But we’re also crossing our fingers because the risks are very high.