Sea otters are keystone predators that maintain kelp forest ecosystems through sea urchin predation, and their welfare is inseparable from the ecological function that makes their conservation urgent.
Sea otter welfare combines individual complexity — they are cognitively sophisticated tool users with individual identities and behavioral traditions — with ecological significance as keystone predators. Individual sea otters with shark bite wounds face severe welfare emergencies requiring rescue and rehabilitation. Oil exposure destroys their fur insulation causing hypothermia in cold Pacific waters. Entanglement in fishing gear causes drowning. The combination of individual welfare needs and ecological irreplaceability makes sea otter conservation a high-priority welfare investment. Monterey Bay Aquarium and similar institutions provide rehabilitation infrastructure that directly saves individual animals experiencing acute welfare emergencies.