Rocky is a sea otter that calls the Minnesota Zoo home and he recently had surgery at the zoo that they believe is the first surgery of its kind.

They noticed back in June that Rocky was having some issues using his back left flipper. They then decided to perform surgery on his flipper once he lost comfortable use of it, according to WCCO.

Rocky underwent flipper removal surgery earlier this month and is currently in recovery. They believe that this is the first-ever flipper amputation surgery on a sea otter. They performed the surgery at the zoo to reduce stress and time that Rocky spent under anesthesia. He was back in the water within an hour, which was a very important step.

The reason it's important that Rocky was back in the water as soon as possible "'in order to maintain proper thermo-regulation,'” according to Minnesota Zoo veterinarian Dr. Karisa Tang.

Rocky returned to his public habitat at the Russia’s Grizzly Coast exhibit recently after recovering behind the scenes.

 

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