Signed, Sealed, Delivered! Orphaned Baby Walrus Sent By FedEx To NYC Aquarium
Oct. 11 2012, Published 3:00 p.m. ET
By Debbie Emery - Breaking Celebrity News Reporter
He is the walrus!
With his long whiskers and deep wrinkles, this 234-pound bundle of joy looks like an old man but at only 15 weeks old he is already an orphan.
After being rescued from the open ocean off the coast of Alaska, the chubby calf finally has something to smile about since being adopted by the New York Aquarium on Coney Island and will make his unlikely arrival on Thursday via FedEx, reported the NYTimes.com.
“If he’s calm and comfortable, no worries,” said director Jon Forrest Dohlin, explaining how the walrus will be kept in a jumbo-size crate aboard a FedEx cargo jet, accompanied by a vet and a handler. "But his needs and comfort come first. So he may very well travel with his head in our keeper’s lap.”
Mitik's arrival in the Big Apple comes at a crucial time for the aquarium which is home to two elderly – and far more wrinkled – female walruses, Nuka, 30, and Kulu, 17.
“Our concern is that our very elderly walrus could pass away, as these things go and that would leave us in a pickle because we really wouldn’t want to have a solitary animal," explained Dohlin.
Up until now, the big baby, who was found stranded at sea last summer by hunters, has been nursed back to health through bottle feeding and exercise sessions with fellow orphan, Pakak, at the Alaska SeaLife Center.