Marine Animal Response Society

4 days ago

Last weekend, MARS was very fortunate to participate in the Atlantic Veterinary College’s 2018 Animal Welfare in Practice conference where the focus this year was on live strandings of cetaceans (i.e whales, dolphins and porpoises).

Along with Drs. Pierre-Yves Daoust and Art Ortenburger with the Atlantic Veterinary College/ Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative and Dr. Michael Moore with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), we provided information on how these animals are assessed and the options and logistics for response, including refloatation and euthanisia. We were also very fortunate to have Dr. Moore provide information about the impacts of human activities on these animals and techniques for sedation of whales at sea to safely assist them.

As part of this conference, MARS also provided a short demonstration on the safe handling and refloatation of dolphins and whales. These techniques are a component of MARS’ Marine Mammal Medic training program - the only one of it’s kind in Canada!

As human safety is the priority, training of this kind is important for anyone who may be assisting expert responders in assessing and handling these animals. For almost 20 years, we have been very fortunate to have the help of many community members, industry and government agents, especially DFO and local fisheries officers, in responding to these situations. ...