Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is home to many animals from all around the world. Perhaps its most famous resident was “E.T.,” a Pacific walrus (1982-2015). Beloved by generations of children and adults alike, a statue of him now greets visitors at the front gate.
“E.T.” Walrus Saved in Alaska
E.T. was a Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens). The species ranges from the Bering Strait to the North Pole.
Conoco Oil Company workers at Prudhoe Bay in 1982 were no strangers to wildlife when they discovered that a walrus pup, no more than two months old, had climbed onto their oil rig two miles inland. They drove the animal back out to the beach to reunite it with its mother. One worker thought the animal resembled the alien from E.T. The name stuck.
But two days later, E.T. was back. His mother was nowhere to be found. The walrus was dehydrated, malnourished, and bleeding…