Sea otters are not only cute, they are important to the health of the ocean. This is how it works: When there are too many sea urchins, there is not enough kelp. When there is not enough kelp, there is more CO2 in the ocean, and that means that fish die and basically all hell breaks loose. But the otters eat the sea urchins, thus keeping the rest of the ocean in balance.
In other words, sea otters are not just arbitrarily cute. Their cuteness is supposed to scream to us, as a baby’s does, “Please keep me alive!” And then we’re supposed to listen and not just, like, dump a bunch of poison in the places where they live.