Long-finned
pilot whale on a beach near Falmouth .
Courtesy of British Divers Marine Life Rescue
Whale too ill
to survive
April 2013. At
11am on 15th April, British
Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) received a call from the Cornwall
Coastguard telling alerting them that a dolphin had stranded on the beach at Falmouth . They scrambled
their marine mammal medics they arrived on the scene within half an hour to
discover that the dolphin was actually a Long-finned Pilot whale.
The medics
immediately started to administer first aid to the whale, and to protect the
whale from the sun (which dries out and cracks its skin) the medics placed
towels drenched in water over the whale.
BDMLR maintain
a whale rescue trailer which arrived shortly after towed by BDMLR director Dave
Jarvis. The whale was 4.1 metres long and probably a juvenile. The whale was
also solitary which was unusual as they live in large pods - This was a worry
to the rescue team as Long-finned pilot whales are known to strand en masse -
As happened in Scotland
last September - But as yet there is no sign of any more whales in the
area.
Poor condition
On assessment the body condition was found to be poor and a decision was taken to euthanize the whale. BDMLR main aim is to prevent suffering and to return a whale to the sea that is not in a condition to survive would simply increase the suffering of the whale.
On assessment the body condition was found to be poor and a decision was taken to euthanize the whale. BDMLR main aim is to prevent suffering and to return a whale to the sea that is not in a condition to survive would simply increase the suffering of the whale.
COURTESY OF BRITISH DIVERS MARINE LIFE RESCUE. |
Dave Jarvis
said "It's always a hard decision to end a life but in this case I feel it
was justified."
A full post
mortem will be carried out on the whale to determine the reason it came ashore.
Long-finned
pilot whales
Long-finned pilot whales occur in the
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