Currently utilizing a refurbished warehouse, OCAq sets sights on constructing a new rehabilitation center for rescued sea life.
Tightly packed, narrow shelves lined with scrub brushes, acrylic tubs, measuring cups and other essential supplies jut from concrete floor to ceiling, utilizing every inch of available space as staff weave between round tanks filled with saltwater — careful not to disturb the endless network of tubes delivering dissolved oxygen to the patients within. The frantic whirring of pumps and aerators supplying that oxygen drown out the creaking grid of wooden rafters, groaning high above.
This is where Oregon Coast Aquarium (OCAq) staff give vulnerable marine wildlife a second chance at survival: in a repurposed warehouse.
OCAq is one of only three facilities in the Pacific Northwest authorized to provide critical care to endangered marine wildlife, like sea turtles, snowy plovers, and sea otters. While the warehouse serves its purpose, the inadequate space and outdated infrastructure limits the aquarium’s capacity for recovery and rehabilitation efforts.
In order to expand that capacity and the aquarium’s ability to care for its array of at-risk patients, OCAq is building the Sees-Ha Xwee-Nish Marine Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. OCAq is aiming to close the final funding gap and begin construction — an endeavor requiring a world wide web of support — in 2024.
KPassionate Community’s Role in Helping Save Sea Life
Marine biologist Kristyn Plancarte is familiar with the efforts and costs that come with animal rescue, care, and rehabilitation. Plancarte raises awareness about marine life via her social media channels, under the screen name KPassionate. Using Youtube and Twitch, Plancarte covers a range of topics, from why whales are so big, to how sea otters can help save the planet. In addition, Plancarte hosts online charity events to rally the growing KPassionate community — which currently includes more than 200,000 followers — in helping raise funds for wildlife preservation programs and organizations.
On July 16, Plancarte is leading a charity live stream event in support of OCAq’s future marine wildlife rehabilitation center. The day of the event, viewers can go online to the KPassionate Twitch channel and watch sea otter highlights, attend Q&A sessions, and participate in live raffles for sea otter art, plushies, and more — with all donors automatically entered into raffles for the many prizes being gifted by members of the KPassionate community.
So far, the KPassionate community has raised more than $50,000 for organizations like Ocean Conservation Namibia, known for rescuing entangled fur seals, as well as the Elakha Alliance, a collaboration of tribal, nonprofit and conservation leaders dedicated to restoring a healthy population of sea otters to the Oregon coast.
With the support of the KPassionate community and the July 16 live-stream event, OCAq will continue moving forward with construction of its dedicated rehabilitation center — and the aquarium’s goal of helping even more of Oregon’s stranded, injured or ill coastal wildlife flourish beyond the walls of a creaky warehouse.
