NEC
Dive Show Great Success for BDMLR
The figures are in !
After expenses are taken out, BDMLR
made over £2000 in donations and sales of merchandise at this
years Dive Show at Birmingham.
A huge thanks to all those who gave
their time and hard work to support us ..... here's a name check
;
Sue White,
Steve Vernon, Dennis and Chaynee Hodgets, Julie Kaye, Martyn Dean
(puppet man), Alan Patterson, Faye Archell, Nigel Dove, Gavin Parsons,
Yvonne Miles, Mark Gregory, Dave McDonald, Graeme Richardson, Trevor
Weeks, James Booth, Phil Van Kuyk, Jane & Alan Hirst, Adam Scott,
Keith Andrews, Mark Stevens and Alan Knight.
Well
done to you all !
Seal
call-out, Runswick Bay near Whitby
29th November
At 15.40 we were called by Helen, an
RSPCA officer, as they had received a called for a seal pup at Runswick
Bay just north of Whitby. Helen was miles away and asked if we had
a medic that would be able to attend. Gary Bolton a medic from Scarborough
left work early and went straight to the reported pup. When Gary
arrived he found that it was a juvenile seal and in good health,
he spoke with James Barnett and was also able to take photo's of
the seal with his camera phone which was sent to James. After assessing
the photo's and talking with Gary, James was happy with the seals
condition and was not in need of our help. Many thanks to Gary and
James.
Sue
White - BDMLR HQ
Adult
Grey seal monitored by Dorset Medics
27th
November
Medics
from Dorset monitored a Grey seal at Mudeford, Dorset, which was
close in to shore and allowing people to approach it quite closely.
The seal had a yellow tag on
a rear flipper and was monitored until darkness fell.
Full report to follow.
Pics sent in
by Jenny O'Connor (click to enlarge) |
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Seal
pup rescued - Torquay, Devon
24th November, 2005
At about
10am on Thursday I received a call from Living Coasts in Torquay
saying they'd had a call from a member of the public reporting a
distressed seal was hauled out at Meadfoot Beach in Torquay. Meadfoot
is a very public beach and a favourite with dogwalkers. I called
Allan Hirst who lives not far from there and he very willingly agreed
to go have a look for me. While Allan was walking down I called
Tony Woodley and 
appraised
him of the situation and he said he'd contact the RSPCA's Animal
Collection Officer (ACO) in the area to alert them to a possible
pick up if needed.
[ Pic
by Torquay Herald Express. Click to enlarge ]
Allan called back about 10 minutes
later to tell me a very young, fully moulted pup was indeed on the
beach and looked to be very thin and lethargic, it was also being
looked over by a couple of policemen! With the tide coming in and
not much beach left it was decided that time was of the essence
so as I packed my gear to meet up with Allan, I phoned Tony who
put an urgent pick-up notice to the ACO's.
About half an hour later I got to Meadfoot and met up with Allan
and Mike Watts (RSPCA) and it was decided that pup was much too
thin, lethargic and with possible breathing problems to leave him.
Pup is now residing at the RSPCA's
facility in West Hatch in Taunton where he is reported as being
alert and well but decidedly underweight (15.8kg) and with a question
mark over his respiratory system, a classic case of a struggling
weaned pup. Blood tests tomorrow will determine any other problems
but so far so good.
Our thanks go to the members
of the public who originally found the pup, Living Coasts, Allan
Hirst, the RSPCA and Tony Woodley for pulling it all together.
Sue
Davie - Devon Co-coordinator
Seal
Casualty, Isle of Bute
23rd
November
I attended a grey
seal pup in Rothesay Bay, Isle of Bute (map HERE)
on Wednesday, 23rd November. The weak pup was easily captured and
taken to the veterinary surgery for further assessment (and some
off the cuff marine mammal training for our new veterinary nurse!)
The pup was extremely thin and dehydrated, weighing only 14kg. It
was showing signs of respiratory distress and deteriorated rapidly.
In such a state, it was unlikely to survive the trip to our nearest
rehab centre and certainly not a candidate for treatment and immediate
release. The pup was euthanased to avoid further suffering.
Catriona MacIntyre
MRCVS (Marine Mammal Medic)
New
National Coordinator for BDMLR - Trevor Weeks
21st November, 2005
The past year has seen a steady increase
in the number of trained medics throughout the UK and the appointment
of several new coordinators and assistant coordinators. The trustees
of our charity have appointed Trevor Weeks, a longstanding medic
and one of our first Advanced medics, to the position of National
Coordinator. Trevor will be responsible for helping coordinators
to set up courses in their areas and will generally be able to give
advice where needed.
Alan
Knight
Chairman
Pics of Trevor
in action ! |
Trevor stomach tubing a seal at the
Thurso seal pup unit
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Trevor(left) with Common dolphin
at Lancing, Sussex March 2005
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Medics
observe seal in river at Southease, Sussex
15th November
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
(BDMLR) have been at Southease Bridge just South of Lewes monitoring
a harbour seal which has swam almost 3 miles in land.
Myself and medics Alec Anscombe, Kevin Harlow,
Stephen Marsh and James Booth attended on site after receiving a
call out from a dog walker.
The seal is an adult harbour seal. The initial
report was the seal was injuried or ill, but this proved not to
be the case. Photos were taken using a camera phone and e-mailed
from the site back to BDMLR's vet James Barnet in Devon for confirmation
that the seal was in fact ok.
Medics monitored the seal for over 3 hours
and on several occasions the seal swam off into the river and then
back to the slipway.
Medics stayed on site
to check the seals behaviour and to ensure it was not disturbed
turning high tide.
Trevor Weeks
BDMLR (Sussex)
Photos
taken and copyright Sussex Express Photographer Peter Cripps.
Click images to enlarge. |
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Montrose
team rescue pup after monitoring
14th November
13.11.05 Medics Willie Taylor
and Peter Taylor observed the seal pup from 22.30hrs - 23.55hrs
to see if it would eventually take to the water at High tide. It
was clearly happy to stay put for the night so observations continued
on 14.11.05.
14.11.05
Medic Andy Dulley arrived on scene at 05.30hrs (ebb tide) and at
08.00hrs called the Area co-ordinator Elaine Roft as he was becoming
concerned with the pups breathing. When Medics Elaine Roft, Willie
Taylor and Peter Taylor arrived on the beach, the pup had made its
way to a rock pool where it proceeded to drink from it. Although
still active and bright, there was now thick cream to greenish discharge
coming from the eyes and nose, the seal was
sneezing and there was blood issue from the tail. The lesions on
the seals back and body were now exposed having opened up and were
weeping puss which upon further inspection appeared to be bites
that had become infected. After communicating with Alexis at SSPCA
Middlebank it was decided that it was in the pups best interests
to have it uplifted and taken in for rehabilitation. "Rolo"
arrived at SSPCA Middlebank at 12.30hrs after being transported
down by Medic Paul Horne. He was weighed in at a healthy 31.8kg,
and immediately placed on a course of antibiotics. Reference number
for "Rolo" was given as 2498.
Picture
shows "Rolo" in his pen at Middlebank - click image to
enlarge.
Many thanks to Medic Jacque Watt for provision
of breakfast and a heat at the fireside, All Medics involved, in
particular Willie, Peter and Andy for late night and early morning
shifts, and to SSPCA staff at Middlebank. Thanks also to BDMLR Vet
Cameron McPherson.
Elaine Roft
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
Montrose Area Co-ordinator (Inverbervie-Easthaven)
First
Grey pup monitoring for Montrose team
13th November
Volunteer
Sue Horne and Medic Paul Horne called area co-ordinator Elaine Roft
at approximately 13.30 hrs to say that they had come across a seal
pup located at ***********. Initially there were some concerns as
it appeared to have lesions on its body and there was blood coming
from the flipper, although otherwise it was active, alert and very
bright with the coat still a little damp on the underside from having
been in the 
water. At the point of calling the co-ordinator, Sue and Paul were
unable to determine the species. Elaine contacted Deputy co-ordinator
Bob Pert who made his way to the location to confirm species, status
of weaning and to carry out an observation and health check. Meanwhile
Elaine had provisionally booked a pen at SSPCA Middlebank should
rehabilitation be required. [click image
to enlarge]
On arrival Bob found a very feisty fully weaned
Grey pup, probably a male which looked like it had been through
the wars. A lesion was observed on it's right tail flipper and several
other lesions on the body with blood issuing from grazes in the
nose (which seemed to be caused by injury rather than lungworm).
All the injuries were probably caused by the violent weather during
the last few days, in particular, on friday when winds reached 90mph..
It was thought that the injuries didn't appear that bad and it was
best to leave the pup named "Rolo" in its location to
see if he willingly goes back to sea with the next tide. Bob left
leaving Medics Willie Taylor, Peter Taylor and Jacque Watt to monitor
and protect the pup at it's location until the next high tide which
was is due just after midnight.
The pups condition will be reassessed if it
fails to move after 2 full tidal cycles.
Elaine Roft
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
Montrose Area Co-ordinator (Inverbervie-Easthaven)
Common
seal in Cornwall
9th November 2005.
While visiting the
National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek, Coordinator Dave Jarvis had a
call from BDMLR Head Office about a seal hauled out on the lifeboat
slipway at St Ives. Dave passed on the message to the Senior Animal
Care Assistant Tamara Cooper, who gathered Medic Jenny Linnell from
Devon who is currently volunteering there, and the Sanctuary’s
Marketing Assistant/Medic Rachael Vine before heading for St Ives.
In the meantime, Coordinator Tim Bain, who was also at the Sanctuary,
had contacted St Ives Medic Simon Money to look after the seal until
Tamara 
and
the others arrived.
[Pic
by Dan Jarvis. Click image to enlarge. More pics on Image Library]
When they got there, Tamara confirmed that
it was in fact a common seal, a very rare species for South West
England. It was healthy and had a minor cut to its lower body that
did not necessitate a rescue. The animal was left to go back into
the water of its own accord, which it did a short time later. There
were further anecdotal reports of a seal near Smeaton’s Pier,
and also hauling out briefly on Porthminster Beach a short while
afterwards, but no further reports were then received.
Common seals do not inhabit Devon and Cornwall
due to the lack of suitable habitats, such as mud flats and sand
banks, for a colony to become established. However, this year there
have been at least three prior confirmed sightings, one in Cornwall
and three in Devon. The following day, a common seal was reported
in the River Exe, Devon. Director Tony Woodley responded and found
it to have cataracts in both eyes and in suboptimal body condition,
but it disappeared into the water before more could be done. This
is probably the same seal reported here a few months ago.
The Seal Sanctuary
have written a press release which can be viewed at: CLICK
HERE
Medic Dan
Jarvis
BDMLR West Cornwall
(Newquay – Land’s End – St Austell)
Bottlenose
dolphin strands, dies in rescuer’s arms, Cornwall
8th November 2005.
At around 8:30am,
West Cornwall Coordinator Dave Jarvis received a call from a member
of the public about a dolphin swimming inside 
Penzance
harbour that apparently could not find its way out. Coordinator
Tim Bain was contacted and Medics were quickly deployed to the scene.
Arriving at the harbour,
Dave, Tim and Medic Lesley Jarvis met with Medics Rory Goodall,
Karl Wheston and Simon Bone. The dolphin could be seen circling
the harbour, and was confirmed to be a bottlenose dolphin. Even
at this early stage it was immediately obvious there was something
wrong with the dolphin, which was approximately 3m in length. It
was not swimming well and its poor nutritional state was also very
apparent. Consultant cetacean veterinarian and Medic Paul Riley
of Head and Head Veterinary Surgery was contacted, and he agreed
to get to the site as soon as he could. [More
pics on Image Library]
Meanwhile, the dolphin appeared to be attempting
to strand by the harbour wall, and eventually managed to on the
main slipway. Tim, Karl and Rory, assisted by Martin James, entered
the shallow water it was lying in and helped support it in an upright
position to keep it comfortable and calm it down. The full extent
of the animal’s distressing state was now evident. There were
cuts to the upper beak, the dorsal fin was damaged, there was a
small part of the trailing edge of one of the tail fluke missing
and various superficial cuts and grazes on the pectoral fins and
tail stock. Obviously there was also a high degree of stress and
an elevated breathing rate accompanying this. After only a few minutes,
the dolphin convulsed once and died in the arms of the Medics supporting
it.
The Cornwall Wildlife Trust Strandings Network was
informed and photographs and measurements taken. It was ascertained
to be a male of about 3.2m and, if it wasn’t already obvious,
very ill. The body was put in a tarpaulin and loaded on to a van
to be transported to VLA Polwhele in Truro for Post Mortem examination.
Medic Dan
Jarvis
BDMLR West Cornwall
(Newquay – Land’s End – St Austell)
pics by Phil
Monkton (more on Image Library) |
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Grey
seal pup rescued from St Ives Bay beach
4th November 2005.
At
around 11:30am, a call came through to Coordinator Dave Jarvis from
the National Seal Sanctuary about a pup that was alone in the middle
of the public beach at Hayle. Dave and Medic Lesley Jarvis loaded
the seal cage into the car and contacted Coordinator Tim Bain and
Medic Karl Wheston to join them at the site. [click
images to enlarge]
On arrival it was
obvious that the unweaned whitecoat pup was a lot bigger than what
was normally dealt with, but 
had
become separated from its mother, more than likely from the colony
further up the coast. It was assessed to be in good nutritional
condition with no injuries, although it did sneeze occasionally.
After discussing the situation with Dr. Glenn Boyle, Curator of
Pinnipeds at the National Seal Sanctuary, the decision was made
to take the animal into the Sanctuary. Unfortunately, as it was
unweaned it would be impossible to relocate the animal back into
the colony – a very difficult and dangerous task with such
a large pup – without getting strange scents on it that may
cause the mother, if she were still in the area, to abandon it anyway.
Tim and Karl managed to herd the pup into the cage, whereupon it
was taken away.
At the Sanctuary, the pup was put in an Isolation
pen after being weighed at a hefty 35kg. Glenn and Animal Care Assistant
Claire Baker carried out a clinical examination, which found the
pup to have a possible case of pneumonia. Now named ‘Blonde’,
he was tube fed fluids and given some antibiotics to combat the
infection.
Medic Dan
Jarvis
BDMLR West Cornwall
(Newquay – Land’s End – St Austell)
