Precious Sea Otter Has Asthma And Learned To Use A Human Inhaler (Video)
Mishka, a sea otter, was diagnosed with the first-ever case of asthma in her species, and now, the 1-year-old has to learn to use an inhaler.
Her prescription is identical to human asthma medicines, and trainers use food to teach the 1-year-old how to use the inhaler.
Because Mishka's species is no longer native to the state of Washington and was transported there from Alaska, USA TODAY reports it is more sensitive to environmental changes, including the presence of smoke from wildfires.
Peter Rabinowitz, a professor at the University of Washington, claimed Mishka's illness could clue medical professionals into the health of humans.
He told USA TODAY,
There starts to be this concept of what we're calling 'one health,' which is really that there's a connection between the health of people and the health of other species and that sometimes those species can be telling us that there's a problem in the environment.
In the past 10 years, cases of asthma in humans reportedly rose about 25 percent.
Though I wish Mishka could breathe easily, the sight of an otter using an inhaler is heart-melting.