Photo: Joel Garlich-Miller, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (public domain). A Pacific walrus calf, illustrative; not Annautaq.
In mid-September 2026, Violet Anniskett was photographing walrus carcasses near her hometown of Point Lay, on Alaska's northwest coast, when she saw the stomach of a calf lying between two of them move. A herd had left the beach during heavy surf, and the young Pacific walrus had been left behind. Anniskett, who was working with U.S. Geological Survey walrus researcher Tony Fischbach, named him Annautaq after her late father.
Key facts
Annautaq was found in mid-September 2026 near Point Lay, Alaska, after his herd left the beach in heavy surf.
Anniskett and Fischbach sheltered the calf in a cabin, staying with him through the night, before he was flown to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, more than 800 miles away.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided he could not be released: Pacific walrus calves depend on their mothers for milk and protection for their first year.
On 21 October 2026, SeaWorld Orlando said the five-month-old, roughly 220-pound calf had arrived for a 30-day quarantine with up to six bottle feedings a day.
Why it matters
Pacific walruses now haul out on Alaska's beaches in large numbers when summer sea ice melts away, and calves can be lost in a stampede or a storm. Annautaq survived because people on the beach, a rehabilitation centre in Alaska and an aquarium with a walrus herd worked together within weeks.
Worth noting
Annautaq will not return to the wild. After quarantine he is to be introduced step by step to SeaWorld Orlando's walrus herd, which includes Kaboodle, a female who has acted as a surrogate mother to rescued calves, and Uki, a two-year-old also rescued in Alaska. The park has not said when guests will be able to see him.