A
Thank You !
Thank
you to member of the public, Denise Jorgensen who
after speaking to BDMLR Medic Alex Levine down in Folkestone, monitoring
'Dave' the solitary dolphin, donated £100 towards 4 way Walkie
Talkies for the Kent area.
Thank you for your generosity.
All at BDMLR .... and 'Dave'
!
Common
seal – East Sands, St Andrews
29th October
Caroline and I met Donna Sutherland at the
seal at about 12:45pm. Donna had been doing a great job of keeping
people and dogs away, and on the whole, most people were very understanding.
The seal itself was a young male, likely to
be one of this summer's pups and was in reasonable body condition.
It had no signs of external injury apart from slightly scuffed claws.
It's respiration rate was 12-15bpm, no coughing was noticed by myself,
but it was possible he had one episode that Donna witnessed, but
nothing major on this front. We caught him up to examine him further,
I listened to his lungs and this all sounded fine, his heart rate
was elevated (as to be expected) and his temperature was 37.1c.
On the basis of this, I decided that he didn't need to be transported
to Middlebank (SSPCA) at this point, so we moved him down the coast
to Kingsbarns beach (adjacent to the 2nd or 3rd hole on the golf
course).
On arrival at Kingsbarns I tubed him and administered
about 100-150ml of lectade on the assumption that he may have been
dehydrated (he had good tear production though). We took him to
a quiet, sheltered cove and opened the seal bag. After a few minutes
he climbed out and headed down to the water, and swam off and appeared
to be foraging straight away (although it was difficult to be sure,
and I would be surprised if he was after his ordeal!) We watched
as he swam out to some rocks offshore, surfacing at regular intervals,
and he appeared to be displaying normal behaviour.
I'll check down at Kingsbarns beach over the
next few days to see if he returns, and we chatted to a few local
people as well who are going to keep an eye out.
Cameron McPherson
– BDMLR Consultant Vet
**
UPDATE - 4th November - Pup now rescued **
An update from last
week-ends seal pup...
I received a call from Bob Pert at about 11:30am on Saturday that
a seal pup had been seen on East Sands beach in St Andrews. My first
thought was that it was probably the same seal, but considering
we'd relocated him to Kingsbarns, it was difficult to be sure.
On arriving at the beach, this pup was in almost exactly the same
place as last weeks, and lo and behold, it was the same pup (we
recognised him from a small lesion on his right nostril). He had
lost a fair amount of condition though, and had a paroxysm of coughing
while we were observing him. He was still quite active and moved
quite freely on the beach to get away from us, but auscultation
of the lungs revealed a harshness that was not present last week,
he was also palpably thinner, and had a temperature of 37.7. All
of this, combined with the fact that fireworks were likely to be
set off on the beach that night, I decided to transfer him to Middlebank.
We were met there by Alexis and Colin (who I hadn't met before,
but he really knows his stuff), and they were going to instigate
further treatment after he had settled in.
Cameron McPherson
– BDMLR Consultant Vet
Fourth
Pup of the Season - Cornwall
27th October 2007
At
11.30 Paul Mathews, a member of the public, with his wife &
mother had observed a young seal on the mainland high tide line
opposite the Lighthouse at Godrevy. He reported the matter to the
National Trust Car Park Hut & was fortunate to find not only
medic Trevor Waterhouse, who works there, but also medic Sue Sayer,
founder of the Cornwall Seal Group. Borrowing waterproof gear from
the National Trust, Sue immediately accompanied Paul to the scene
to have a look at the pup, whilst Trevor contacted Area Co-ordinator
Dave Jarvis to advise of the situation. Dave & his wife Lesley
were actually travelling eastbound on the A30 & had also just
received a call from Tamara Cooper at The National Seal Sanctuary
regarding a pup that had been seen hauled out on The Doom Bar near
Padstow, although apparently giving no cause for concern. Upon locating
the animal, Sue was concerned as to it’s condition & immediately
sent a message to advise Dave that a rescue might be necessary,
so he did a quick u-turn on the trunk road & headed towards
the scene, whilst advising the Sanctuary & also requesting Area
Co-ordinator Tim Bain to attend.
A
relatively short time later Dave & Lesley arrived & soon
located Sue & Paul with the pup & a few other casual observers
on the beach & clifftops. In fact Sue had taken the opportunity
to perch herself on one of the higher rocks & was educating
the onlookers about the animal & it’s relations in the
locality. Dave quickly confirmed Sue’s observations that the
animal had a few bite wounds & apparently underweight especially
towards it’s rear end. He re-contacted the Sanctuary to appraise
them of it’s condition & was requested to bring the animal
in to them. At about the same time Tim arrived & within a few
moments the feisty pup was in a cage & being transported to
Gweek. Thanks to the medics involved & especially to Paul &
his family for their dedication in assisting with the animal in
what were very damp conditions.
Dave Jarvis
Cornwall Area Co-ordinator
NE
Medics receive radios from supporter
27th
October
We were recently given, as
a direct result of one of our rescues, a set of two way radios for
use when out on calls.
The very kind lady in question is called Margaret Hird, she lives
in Scarborough and often walks on the beach.
She was our first contact on this call out and helped me when I
attended the seal pup at Hunmanby Gap near Filey, she was so taken
by what we did on that day, and what the organisation does that
she offered to make a donation to the local medics and the radios
were the result. ( original report - HERE
)
Bev Drayton Yorkshire area co-ordinator, myself and all our local
medics thank this wonderful lady for her support.
Bruce
Pawson
Filey MMM
Seal
at Paull Shipyard, Humber
26th
October
This
is one seal whose rescue date I won’t forget – it was
my wedding anniversary, and I was expecting a bit of a lie-in and
cup of tea in bed. My mobile phone alarm was set for 8.30 a.m. so
I was dozing and intermittently hitting the “snooze”
button and when the phone rang again I thought “just a few
more minutes” and hit the button again. Then I realised the
phone was speaking to me! I picked it up to find Nick telling me
there was a report of a seal at a shipyard in a village called Paull
– did I know where it was, could I do an assessment and if
so, how long would it take me to get there? Answers were “yes,”
“yes,” and “five minutes!” I was already
throwing on clothes and digging out my boots, and quickly set off
to the shipyard which is only 200 yards from where I live!
When I arrived there they showed
me the seal – a Common pup – which had hauled itself
out of the Humber estuary and decided to settle on the slipway.
It had been penned in with planks to stop it wandering around in
a rather dangerous environment - the spot she’d chosen was
right under a ship in the process of being built ! The tide was
on its way out, with hours to go before the next high tide and of
course it just HAD to be Spring tides this week, with 9 metre-plus
tides expected, so the water was retreating a long way. There was
no way the pup could cross the expanse of mud flats already exposed
and she also couldn’t stay where she was. On examining the
pup I found it was female, fat, fit and VERY feisty, with only a
minor scrape on its nose which looked very recent and could well
have been incurred on the planks penning her in, so relocation seemed
to be the order of the day. I rang in my report and assessment and
explained what I proposed to do – ring my daughter, who is
also a BDMLR Medic and conveniently a Vet. Nurse, and was even more
conveniently having a rare day off! – and together take the
seal (via the vets’ for some Blue Spray) to Spurn Point nature
reserve where she could be safely released back into the wild.
One of the vets came to have
a look at the seal and Catherine restrained the pup while the vet,
after several “missed shots,” finally managed to anoint
the graze with spray, turning it in the process into a newly discovered
species, the Humber Blue Nosed Seal ……
We then drove out to Spurn,
a wonderful wildlife habitat managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
who when we arrived waived the £3 admission charge and advised
us to take her right out to the very point of the peninsula to release
her. This we did. It was a long and hairy drive – OK for 4
x 4s but not so much for my rather elderly estate car! - then we
found ourselves with 20 ft sand dunes to cross, carrying a rather
chubby and wriggly seal! (Did I mention that she was feisty? Well,
her sole aim seemed to be to eat one or even both of us!) I took
her weight and Catherine restrained her head with the “towel
muzzle” technique, the box she’d been placed in at the
shipyard proving impossible to carry with the added weight of the
seal, and we clambered up and over the soft sand of the dunes.
We
were delighted to see that the North Sea was absolutely flat calm.
Of course, by then the water’s edge was MILES away, but at
least this was firm sand, and we carried the pup out as far as the
wet sand and put her down to see what she’d do (and to give
ourselves time to get our breath back!) She looked all round, glared
at us, gave one last growl and hiss, and set off seawards at a pretty
brisk pace. We followed a short distance behind in case we were
needed but we weren’t and she went straight into the sea.
She swam out a few yards and dived, resurfaced a few yards further
out, swam out a bit more then dived again. We watched her swimming
and diving, always getting further away, until she became a speck
in the distance, dived again and we lost sight of her. We both stood
there for a moment, pleased to have been able to rescue this little
one so successfully, then went back to the car. That should have
been the end of the story, but of course it wasn’t –
driving back along what passes for a road, we spotted a bird fluttering
and scrambling along, unable to fly. Catherine caught it and on
examination it was a Redwing, no obvious injuries so probably exhausted
after its long migratory flight, and we handed it in to the Yorkshire
Wildlife Trust volunteers who had the facilities to keep it for
rest, rehab and release, and finally left for home.
Thanks to : Ian and all the
rest of the staff at Hepworth’s Shipyard, Paull, for their
concern and help;
Andy and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust volunteers at Spurn Point;
Jim and the Haven Veterinary Group, Hedon;
and most of all to my daughter Catherine (now Catherine Hicks),
who has far more energy, experience and seal-wrangling skills than
I will ever have!
Dianne Davies
BDMLR Medic
Seal
pups released from BDMLR Highland Unit
20th October
On the 20th of October Angus
and Seoras were released back to the wild.
On Friday evening they were taken from the pool back into the unit
and tagged ready for their journey back to Skye in the morning.
Weights were: Angus 33kg and Soeras 37kg. Normally these seals would
be released once they hit the target of 30kg but due to a delay
in the Tags arriving ( thanks royal mail ) and also delays getting
our pool installed these guys were held back slightly.
In the morning they were loaded
into their transport boxes and into the van. Heather and I then
drove to Portree on Skye to Mairi Mcloeds family vet practice at
Barnisdale. After another quick rest and check over we drove about
40 minutes north to a lovely secluded bay that had a couple of islands
that have a good seal population. This spot also had some good sheltered
spots so they can get used to being back in the wild without having
to be at the mercy of the wind or tides.
The boys were taken to a quiet
part of the peninsular, the end of the dirt road actually, and the
lids were taken off and the boys were tipped out. Angus was into
the water and playing amongst the seaweed, always keeping an eye
on Seoras, who was not quite sure what was happening, he would go
in the water then come out looking at me then looking at Angus.
After a while he worked out that the water was where he needed to
be so we then moved off the rocky beach and away from the immediate
area. We watched them from a distance up on a grass bank and left
them to look after themselves. They both looked pleased to be back
where they belong.
The couple who live on the
peninsular always see seals on these beachs and watch out for them
regularly and so they will keep an eye out for the boys, who are
identifiable by the orange flipper tags, so its reassuring to know
someone will spot them if they get into trouble in the first few
days while the readjust.
Definitely a very rewarding
release as, I am sure your aware, both of these guys were well premature
when they arrived at the hospital, so very satisfying to see them
go from around 5kg to 30 odd and get back where they belong.
We also have Leo and Lilly
ready to go this coming Thursday and the other commons should be
back to the wild within the next four weeks or so.
I would also like to thank
all the medics who have helped out over the season, medics, family,
friends and organisations who have raised funds, all of which have
allowed us to take these seals and give them the best standard of
care and then give them their chance back in the wild. I would also
like to thank Divemaster insurance for its generous support in keeping
the unit open and allowing a high standard to be maintained. To
Sue, for everything, it would take a whole couple of pages to list
what she has done to keep us operational, you’re a star. And
finally to all at head office, all the Directors, Trevor, James,
Tony, literally everyone who had faith in the plan, Last but not
least, Alan Knight, thanks for everything but especially the opportunity
and vision. We have had some problems but when you see them go back
its all worth it. This is hopefully the start of many seal pups
we can help when in trouble. The success is a team effort and BDMLR
is one big team that should be proud of what it has and will continue
to achieve for these seals.
Jamie
Dyer – Scotland Coordinator/Highland Seal Pup Unit
Manager
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Seal
pup ‘Casper’ from Orkney to Aberdeen
21st October
Caithness
medics received a call from Orkney SSPCA to help with an abandoned
grey seal pup in Stromness harbour. The part weaned pup had been
observed in the area without an adult present. The pup was transported
via North link ferries to Scrabster, where it was met by Paula Gent
Caithness Coordinator and decanted for transport to Seal Towers
the Caithness over night holding facility. Paula Gent and Richard
Bradley gave the seal an
initial assessment followed by tube feeding and Antibiotic injections.
The pup appeared to have breathing problems and was very emaciated.
The pup was held over night awaiting transport to Lawrence the following
day, being so poorly it needed feeding every four hours to see it
through the night. At midday the next day the pup was declared fit
to travel and continued on it journey to the rehab facility.
Thanks
goes out the all involved with the transport, with special thanks
to Jim Thompson for transport to Inverness and turning out with
his wife to assist with the 4am feed. Nick Duthie for transport
and coordination of the effort. James Barnett for advice and support,
which was invaluable. And finally all the background work at Head
Office (Sue you are a Star). I really don’t know how Jamie
Dyer does this night after night as the four-hour feeds are a killer.
Richard Bradley
Caithness Assistant Coordinator
Area
Co-ordinator to Re-locate??
19th October 2007
At about 11.30 Area Co-ordinator Dave Jarvis received a phone call
from Animal Care Assistant (& recently qualified medic) Clare
McGowan at the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek. They had received
a call regarding a white-coated seal pup at Salthouse, near Widemouth
Bay, Bude. Apparently there was no major cause for concern, since
the report they had received indicted that the pup was in an isolated
area, with no obvious injuries, but Clare wished to have a medic
attend just to observe the pup & report back. Dave immediately
called medic Michelle Robinson who readily agreed to attend. Due
to the increasing number of pups that have begun to appear in that
location Dave discussed the situation with Area Co-ordinator Tim
Bain & decided that it might be a good opportunity to go up
to show some of the local medics on what a healthy pup looked like.
So they, along with medic Lesley Jarvis set out for the location
for the third day running, but soon afterwards were contacted by
Michelle to advise that the original report had not been totally
accurate & that there were several people in close proximity
to the pup, some of which had dogs with them. Dave instructed her
to endeavour to move the crowd back & he also rang Sue White
at Head Office to ask for additional medics to be sent to assist
Michelle. The Seal Sanctuary was also updated on the new information.
Upon arrival Dave, Tim &
Lesley quickly identified Michelle & the pup, together with
volunteer Trevor Plant, at the northern end of the busy main beach
& adjacent to the public car park. Tim carried out a visual
inspection of the animal & noted pus oozing from a wound on
a rear flipper, blood stains on the fur, dry crusty eyes & general
unresponsiveness. Dave re-contacted Gweek to report the condition
& was requested by Clare to bring it in as soon as possible.
The animal was uplifted & taken to a quieter location at the
rear of the Bay View Hotel, where Trevor worked (as previously did
former Asst Area Co-ordinator Hannah Walter), where Michelle assisted
Tim in tube feeding & generally stabilising it prior to a cross-County
dash to the Seal Sanctuary.
Dave
Jarvis
Cornwall Area Co-ordinator
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A
Seal Pup with a ‘Black Country’ Accent?
17th October 2007
At about 14.30 Area Co-ordinator
Dave Jarvis was contacted by National Co-ordinator Trevor Weeks,
who was at Head Office. A call had been received regarding a seal
on Wanson Beach, Widemouth Bay, near Bude. Whilst Dave loaded equipment,
advised the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek & collected his
wife Lesley & Tim Bain, Trevor mobilised medics Ross Compton
& Michelle Robinson to the scene. Upon arrival they discovered
a white-coated pup, near the high tide line. Ross called Dave to
tell him what had been found & he was asked to monitor the situation,
whilst he, Tim & Lesley continued onwards to the beach.
When they arrived they were
met by Michelle who guided them to the location, where they found
Ross & his work colleague Emma, together with the original caller
Dave Morris & his young daughter. Mr Morris was on holiday from
Brownhills in the West Midlands, where he runs a farm, so whilst
not an expert in marine wildlife, had sufficient knowledge of young
animals to keep other members of the public & dogs away whilst
we were on the way. As some of you will know Dave & Lesley also
originally come from a small fishing port called Birmingham, therefore
it became increasingly difficult for the medics to understand what
was being said! Tim carried out a visual assessment of the animal
when he arrived & it was found to indeed be a white-coat, of
an apparently good weight, but not overly aggressive. Pictures were
taken with a camera phone of the pup which were sent, together with
the report on the animal’s condition to the Seal Sanctuary,
who in turn requested that the animal be left in-situ for the night
to give it’s mother an opportunity to locate it & have
another look in the following day. The animal was monitored until
darkness fell & Mr Morris volunteered to keep an eye on the
pup & advise if it was still there in the morning.
Copies of digital photographs
were made overnight & sent to Gweek, via medic Dan Jarvis, first
thing the next morning… well nearly first thing. Dave had
made the big mistake of not appreciating that when a farmer says
first thing, that’s just what he means. 05.45, it’s
dark. An Area Co-ordinator crawls out of bed, falls down the stairs,
picks up the phone that’s ringing ‘Allo Dave, its still
‘ere’.
Once light Dave & Lesley
had decided to set out for the scene to keep an eye on the pup for
themselves & whilst awaiting news from the Sanctuary. Dave had
also sent copies of the digital photographs to BDMLR Veterinary
Consultant James Barnett, for his expert opinion & it wasn’t
long before his reply came back that the animal appeared to be in
it’s second week of life & whilst currently not thin would
soon begin to lose weight. It was also apparent that the location
was not ideal.
While they were en-route they
were contacted by Senior Animal Care Assistant Tamara Cooper, who
concurred with James’s observations & advised that she
would soon be on her way to give the pup a check over. When Dave
& Lesley arrived they found Mr Morris & his family dutifully
protecting the animal from any outside human interference. Medic
Michelle Robinson soon joined them & the proprietors of the
shop on the nearby holiday site, it quickly becoming apparent that
the lady originally came from Wolverhampton. About an hour later
Tamara arrived accompanied by one of the volunteers who assist at
the Sanctuary, named Ben, the latter almost predictably coming from
Walsall. Tamara carried out her assessment & decided that it
would be in the best interests of the animal if it were to be transported
to the Sanctuary for rehabilitation, so having tube-fed the pup
with fluids it was up lifted & removed from the beach.
Dave Jarvis
Cornwall Area Co-ordinator
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First
Pup of the Season
11th October 2007
Following an extremely calm start to the Autumn,
the first grey seal pup of the season appeared on 11th October 2007.
Area Co-ordinator Dave Jarvis was spending a few days on holiday
in North Devon, when he received a telephone call from RSPCA ACO
& medic Jon Phipps to advise that a seal pup had been observed
on the rocks at the rear of the Pedn Olva Hotel in St Ives. Dave
immediately contacted Tim Bain, who is the other Co-ordinator for
Cornwall & lives in the town. Dave also informed Head Office
& the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek of the report.
Tim quickly made his way to the scene on foot &
soon located the animal, which he described as being ‘small
enough to get in a shoe box’. He secured the location &
advised Gweek of the situation. Jon Phipps then arrived to assist,
despite having a hand in plaster. Clare McGowan, a member of their
Animal Care Team was soon on the scene to tube feed the small pup
& transport it for rehabilitation at the Sanctuary. We have
subsequently learned that the pup weighed only 11kg
Dave Jarvis
Cornwall Area Co-ordinator
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Pup
rescue - Yorkshire
8th October
On
Monday 8th October a member of the public reported a seal which
he saw the day before laying on an isolated stretch of beach at
Holmpton, near Withernsea, E Yorks.
We
went together and after scrambling down the cliff and walking for
about a mile we found the pup. The pup was a young common, with
evident injures around the mouth, some oiled patches on the coat,
a neck line and it appeared generally quiet and exhausted. I noticed
something in her/his mouth which initially looked like a fishing
hook or worms. The seal did cough a bit and eventually the 'thing'
cleared up. It did not take too long to put her in the kennel, althought
we then had to climb the cliff again and with my great joy the gentleman
was able to drive his landrover through a field and pick us up.
We went to Swanbridge Veterinary Centre planning to relay to East
Winch for the following day, as it was already 7pm. We gave liquids
to the pup now called Ivy, antibiotics and her temeperature was
39. The mouth appeared clear from hooks but had contusions and some
bloody tissue appeared when we tubed her. The morning after while
Alan - Coordinator, was arranging the relay, the vet rang us to
tell us that the temperature had risen to 42. Very sadly, Ivy died
soon after.
Thanks
everybody for all your efforts and help. The help of the member
of the public was priceless, given the location of the rescue. Thanks
to the team at Swanbridge who have acted in a professional, sensitive
and seal centred manner while also very open and inclusive of the
knowledge and experience that Alan and myself could bring to the
case.
Freddie Taylor (East Yorkshire/Humber Medic)
Lucy and Joel jr.
Sizewell
Seal Rescue
Sunday 7th October
I received a call from Thames
Coastguard about 8.45am telling me there was an apparently ill/injured
seal on the beach at Sizewell, just below the Caravan Site. Deja-vu
– this was the site of my very first call out in 2003!
I got my gear together and
set off with my daughter Dilly who started ringing round other medics
to attend or help with transport if needed.
We arrived about 50 minutes
later and found the seal which was a Harbour (common). It was I
estimated 6-8 weeks, bodily in moderate condition, in lifting I
guessed around 16-18kg. It had a definite neck. It was bleeding
from the nose and anus and had a small puncture wound on the front
nearside shoulder, also some blood on the foreflippers although
I could see no injury.
It
was very definitely attentive and while ‘towelling’
it I was given my first seal bite! ‘Oh golly-gosh –
that hurts please let go’ I said quietly, 
although
my daughter assures me it didn’t sound like that was what
I said!
Moving on – still no
joy raising any other medics (Sunday morning syndrome), so with
Dilly undergoing onthejob training I set about a more thorough exam,
taking its temp and tubing, for onward transport to East Winch (with
whom I’d conferred).
With Karen (on call Co-ord)
also having made some calls we eventually arranged with the RSPCA
to undertake the transport job to East Winch, whilst I went to get
my Tetanus booster and presented my ‘seal bite’ letter.
Don’t believe what you get told in training – it doesn’t
get you seen any quicker!
East Winch have apparently
called the seal Bramwell Bottom and early indications are it has
lungworm.
Tony
Wooderson
Asst Co-ord - Suffolk
Basking
Shark at Musselburgh, Edinburgh
Friday
5th October
[
All images Copyright Stuart Davenport, 2007 ]
At
11am I received a message left on my phone by Sue at BDMLR HQ asking
if I would be able to attend a call to a Basking shark at Fisherrow
Beach, Musselburgh. After speaking to Heather Walker, the member
of the public who had initially called in I was informed that the
shark was approximately 12ft long and swimming in shallow water.
En route to my flat to pick up the medic kit bag and my dry suit
I was called by SSPCA Senior Inspector Stuart Murray who said that
the shark kept swimming a little way out to sea before turning back
towards the shore. Both Inspector Murray and a second SSPCA inspector
were already at the scene and had been there since approximately
10.30am after the initial call was first made to the SSPCA at approximately
8.30am. I arrived at Musselburgh beach at approximately 12noon (after
a little trouble finding the right bit of beach!) where I was met
by Inspectors Murray and Baldie from the SSPCA who were pleased
to tell us that the shark had actually swum back out to sea and
had been out for nearly an hour now. After saying that I would hang
around for a while just to make sure it did not return Inspector
Murray left for another job, leaving Inspector Robert Baldie on
the shore with us.
At
12.30pm I received another call from Heather Walker saying that
from her house slightly further down the beach she could see the
shark swimming in circles back towards the shore. Along with Inspector
Baldie, and Dr Mauvis Gore, a local basking shark expert we made
our way along the beach to where we could see the shark already
in the shallow water. By this time BDMLR medics Lisa Eckford-Soper
and Fiona Monaghan had arrived (complete with pontoons should we
require them) and Kath Duthie who stayed on the shore line keeping
the public informed of what was happening the whole time (quite
a large crowd had gathered by now including many children who were
on their lunch break from school!). Closer examination of revealed
that it was a juvenile male basking shark and approximately 3m long.
There were numerous 
superficial
lacerations along both pectoral fins, the dorsal fin, pelvic fin
and caudal fin. Superficial lesions were also present bilaterally
along the entire length, which could be associated with being tangled
in nets? A circular lesion was present on the left hand side of
the trunk, which was thought to possibly have been caused by a cookie
cutter shark. Numerous copepods were visible on the caudal aspect
of the dorsal fin. There was also considerable trauma to the snout.
Along the entire body of the shark were distinct circular lesions
on the skin, which Dr Gore thought may be a fungal infection. However
despite the shark having many superficial signs of trauma over the
entire body none of these appeared life threatening injuries but
despite this it was obvious that the shark was rapidly becoming
weaker and beginning to respond less to all of the human activity
around it.
After
discussion with the SSPCA and Dr Mauvis Gore it was decided that
the shark required euthanasing to prevent it from suffering any
further. As a result of this I then phoned Sue at HQ to ask if it
would be possible to have a vet attend to make the final decision.
There was some debate as to how would be the most humane method
of killing the shark as Dr Gore advised that it would be preferable
to use a firearm, although she did warn that basking sharks do have
a very small brain, but she felt that euthanasia by lethal injection
may prolong the suffering as it may take a while to take effect.
By this time we had a considerable police presence (partially due
to the increasing crowd on the beach) who put their firearms unit
on standby. However after talking to Sue again (who had been in
contact with James Barnett and Cameron McPherson) it was agreed
that we should wait for Cameron to arrive before any decision was
made. However after further discussion with the police they said
that due to home office regulation and lack of a suitable firearm
they would not be happy to kill the shark unless it was the last
resort. Whilst we waited for Cameron McPherson to arrive we kept
the shark in the shallow waters and as calm as possible. However
by 3.20pm the tide had gone 
out
too far for us to be able to keep the shark immersed fully in water
and as there was now virtually no response to any activity around
it was decided to keep the shark where it was and just to minimise
any distress as much as possible. As the vet arrived at 3.45pm the
SSPCA Inspectors had to leave to attend to other jobs.
Once
Cameron arrived he proceeded to euthanase the shark using an overdose
of Pentobarbitone (barbiturate). Approximately 200mls were administered
using a needle and flutter valve into various different sites including
intra-cardiac and intra-hepatic routes until we were sure there
was no palpebral or corneal reflex and the shark was no longer suffering.
A stomach sample was then collected using a needle and syringe and
also a 1cm x1cm sample of skin, subcutaneous fat and muscle was
taken from beneath the pelvic fin for Dr Gore. I left at 5.45pm
as the council arrived to discuss moving the body and Dr Gore awaited
the arrival of Bob Reid from the SAC who intends to post mortem
the shark.
Thanks
to medics Lisa Eckford-Soper, Fiona Monaghan and Kath Duthie, SSPCA
Inspectors Stuart Murray and Robert Baldie, Cameron McPherson, Dr.
Mauvis Gore, Sue at HQ for all her help and Nick Moore who kept
checking in on us (and I know how annoyed he was to be away yet
again!).
Sally
Hessey
MMM Edinburgh
4th year Vet Student, RDVC.
