Net
Entangled Seal Rescue - Norfolk
24th October
Hi,
I have just received pics of our intrepid
East Anglia crew running up a beach on Blakeney point to catch a
seal with a monofilament net around its body and fore flippers.
The team included Duane Kirk, Kieran
Copeland and James Brett. They managed to catch the seal with a
large net and transported her to the RSPCA hospital at East Winch.
The fore flipper was so badly infected that the animal had to be
put to sleep.
The team did
an excellent job in catching the seal and prevented it from suffering
a long lingering death. I am pleased to say that the National Trust
were pleased with the way the rescue operation was planned and executed.
Thanks to Sea Life as they assisted with transporting
the animal and also special thanks to the John Sizer of the National
Trust and his staff for their cooperation and assistance.
Alan
Knight - BDMLR Trustee/Director
Late
night seal rescue, Cornwall.
25th October
West Cornwall Coordinator Dave Jarvis
was contacted by BDMLR Director James Barnett at around midnight
of Sunday 24th/Monday 25th about a grey seal pup that had been spotted
on a public beach at Mousehole, near Newlyn, in the afternoon and
was still there late in the evening. Dave contacted Coordinator
Tim Bain, woke Medic Phil Jarvis and called in myself just as I
was finishing my shift at work. It was agreed that Phil and I would
go straight to the beach, while Dave picked up Tim and the cage
from St Ives. During the journey, we called Marianne Fellows of
the National Seal Sanctuary’s Animal Care Team to let her
know of the situation.
Arriving at
the site, we met the couple who had found and reported the pup,
and, by torchlight, showed us where it was on the beach (which could
have taken hours in the cold and the wind had they not so willingly
obliged to assist us). It was high up on the beach, next to a path
sm.jpg "click to enlarge")
that
skirts the top of the beach, frequently used by dog walkers. Despite
being alert, the pup showed no intention of moving away from us
as we approached, instead just lying amongst the rocks hissing and
snarling at us while we assessed its condition. It was a moulted
female pup, but we weren’t sure if she was weaned yet. She
was underweight and had some minor puncture wounds to the rear half
of her body, probably bite wounds. Dave and Tim arrived with the
cage about 10 minutes later. We liased with Marianne again and gave
her details of the pup’s condition. It was decided that we
would take the pup back to Tim’s for the rest of the night
and bring her in to the Sanctuary in the morning.
Tim jumped the pup, and with Phil’s
help, picked her up and put her in the cage. Between us, we carried
her back up the steps to the road and checked her again under a
streetlight, noticing a bleeding cut on the underside of one of
her foreflippers. We then loaded her into Dave’s car and drove
to St Ives, arriving at about 2:20am.
sm.jpg "click to enlarge")
Once
inside Tim’s flat, we decided to clean up the pup’s
wounds and tube feed her fluids. However, she became too stressed
and began coughing when we tried to get her out of the cage, so
had to give up and left for the night. Dave, Phil and I arrived
home not long before 3am.
At about 8:30am, I called the Sanctuary
to let them know the status of the pup and to work out an approximate
time of arrival. Dave and Medic Lesley Jarvis went over to Tim’s
while I carried on down to the Sanctuary. Tim, Dave and Lesley,
after another unsuccessful tube feeding attempt due to the same
reason as above, arrived a couple of hours later. Curator Glenn
Boyle and Senior Animal Care Assistant Tamara Cooper carried out
the clinical assessment of the pup and found it to have a few more
minor puncture wounds to its rear flippers and a tiny superficial
wound on her left eye. Now named Wriggle, since she squirmed a lot
during the clinical, she is now recuperating in an Isolation pen
and is being treated for her wounds.
Medic
Dan Jarvis
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
West Cornwall
IFAW
funds BDMLR’s latest Marine Mammal Rescue Unit in Scotland.
We
are delighted to announce that BDMLR’s mobile Marine Mammal
Rescue unit is now ready for action near John O’Groats in
Scotland.
The unit is
a Portacabin with 5 custom designed pens to house seals. One of
the pens has a divider that can be removed to convert it into a
larger pen to cater for larger seals.
The unit is
fully plumbed in and has an electrical supply. Each pen
has its own water supply and drainage
as well as heat lamps.
IFAW also
supplied funds for a QUAD bike and an outside pool for prolonged
rehab of seals. The
Quad is transported on a trailer which doubles up as a trailer for
the quad when it arrives at it’s destination.
The Quad will
allow our medics to rescue seals from remote beaches in any weather
and bring them back to the rescue unit for treatment.
We are currently
looking into the possibility of providing a portable pool to allow
us to carry out full rehabilitation of seals. 
We would like
to thank IFAW for their continuing support of our work.
The unit was
christened with the arrival of a hooded seal . The seal has been
picked up by the local medics on a beach 4 months ago and had been
rehabbed in Oban at the Sea Life Centre. Jamie Dyer , curator of
Oban SLC and a keen BDMLR medic returned the seal to us for release
off the coast of Hoy. BDMLR’s RIB ‘Pentland Knight’
released the seal well away from land after pointing it in a Northerly
direction.
Thanks to following for all their hard
work ; Ali Jack, Michael Salter, Marion Jack and all the medics
that helped set the unit up.
Alan
Knight - BDMLR Director
Pics
of Hooded seal release - click images to enlarge |
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Two
more dolphins die at Mote Marine:
As some of you may know I spent three weeks at Mote
Marine in Florida. I was involved in caring for 'the seven dwarves'
who were rough toothed dolphins who stranded in a group of 37. Unfortunately
when I was out there two died. Since then I have been checking their
progress on the Mote website (www.mote.org). All of the dolphins
had seemed to be donig well and despite a couple of minor issues
were
all making good progress. I was saddened today to hear that two
of them - Doc and Dopey both died last week. I have included a copy
of what has been written on the Mote website. This must be devestating
for all the hard working, dedicated staff and volunteers at Mote.
Dopey
-
10/14 Bad news!
Without any symptoms or warning, this dolphin suddenly died about
noon today. Necropsy will be performed this afternoon. 10/15 Necropsy
revealed lesions in the lungs and brain. We suspect a fungal pneumonia
and fungal encephalitis such as zygomycosis.
Doc -
10/15 Dopey,
this dolphin's tank mate died yesterday, and during a feed this
morning, while eating, this dolphin also died with absolutely no
symptoms. Necropsy revealed possible fungal pneumonia and fungal
encephalitis such as zygomycosis. Cultures were taken and all remaining
dolphins have been started on a new antifungal medication.
Bashful, Sleepy
and Sneezy -
10/15 Because
of death of two other dolphins, all remaining dolphins have been
started on a new antifungal.
Faye
Archell
BDMLR Essex Coordinator
Doc (left) and Dopey at Mote Marine.
Doc was the youngest of the seven dolphins – thought to be
about two years old he still had a small amount of milk in his stomach
when he stranded.
Pic: www.mote.org
Press
Release:
East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & British Divers Marine Life Rescue
will be working at Newhaven East Pier on Friday morning to remove
a large pile of fishing netting caught.
Recently local rescuers have found over 22 seabird dead on local
beaches and on Tuesday WRAS rescuer Maz Smith found a dead gannet
caught in fishing netting at Peacehaven. Another rescuer also found
a cormorant dead on Brighton Beach. After examination by a veterinary
surgeon it is believed that this bird died after drowning - possibly
due to being caught in a net.
"Netting is causing problems for all marine life," said
East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Co-ordinator Trevor Weeks, "society
is collectively responsible for wildlife and the environment, and
the fishing industry should take responsibility for this discarded
netting and the injuries, suffering and deaths that it causes."
It is not just birds that become caught in netting whilst diving
for fish. Alan Knight from British Divers Marine Life Rescue, based
at Uckfield, East Sussex, is also very concerned about the marine
life which they have dealt with. These includes seals and dolphins
caught in netting and debris at sea - see photos on Image Library
'Wildlife Net Casualties' album..
On Friday 22nd October, trained rescuers from British Divers Marine
Life Rescue & East Sussex Wildlife Rescue will be attempting
to remove a section of netting from East Pier at Newhaven meeting
at 10am.
Two
pups in two days for Cornwall.
17th & 18th October
On Sunday 17th at around midday, a call was received
at the National Seal Sanctuary about a grey seal pup lying alone
on a beach near Tintagel and was bleeding from a wound on one of
its rear flippers. Senior Animal Care Assistant Tamara Cooper decided
that the pup should be brought into the Sanctuary for treatment,
and contacted RSPCA Inspector Rob Skinner (who also attended the
recent MMM course at Looe) who was nearby and agreed to go to the
site straight away.
Since I happened
to be volunteering at the Sanctuary that day, I tagged along to
help! While en route, Rob called and said that he had 
taken
the pup off the beach as the tide was turning and there were a lot
of dogs around. It was decided that we would meet him at Tesco car
park in Wadebridge to collect the pup from him.
Once we had
all arrived, the pup was unloaded from Rob’s van. Tamara jumped
it while I took the pup’s temperature, which was higher than
normal. We also tube fed it before continuing back to the Sanctuary
and putting it into an Isolation pen.
[
Pic : Severn, rescued by West Cornwall Coordinator Tim Bain &
Dave Jarvis on 18-10-04 from St Ives. ]
After the pup had recovered, Animal Care Assistant
Claire Baker and Tamara gave the pup, named Taff, a thorough assessment.
They found she had numerous bite wounds on her rear flippers, and
more on her fore flippers, which were all treated. Taff had her
temperature taken again –now about normal– and was tubed
more fluids.
On the morning of Monday 18th, West Cornwall Coordinator
Tim Bain had a call from the National Seal Sanctuary about a pup
on Porthmeor Beach, St Ives that appeared to be malnourished. Tim
contacted the other West Cornwall Coordinator, Dave Jarvis, who
agreed to meet Tim at the site.
Tim took the seal cage with him down to the beach,
and found that the pup had managed to crawl from one end of the
beach to the other – which is quite a distance, especially
for a pup! The pup had lost its white coat, but didn’t appear
fully weaned yet. It was very thin, but still alert and active despite
the trek across the beach.
Once Dave had arrived, Tim jumped the seal and between
them they got it into the cage. The seal was then loaded into Dave’s
car and it was taken to the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek.
Animal Care Assistants Marianne Fellows and Fleur
Bennett met Tim and Dave at the Hospital, and the pup was taken
into an Isolation pen. Marianne and Fleur later gave her a clinical
examination, finding that, other than being quite malnourished,
she only had a few small cuts and grazes on her body. The wounds
were tended to and the female pup, now given the name Severn, was
tube fed fluids and had her temperature taken, which was about normal.
Medic
Dan Jarvis
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
West Cornwall
[
More images of these pups on the Image Library - click HERE
]
More
grey seal pups rescued in Cornwall.
10th October
[click pics
for larger images]
On the afternoon
of Sunday 10th October, the National Seal Sanctuary received a call
about a grey seal pup on Hayle beach. Marianne Fellows, a member
of the Animal Care Team at the Sanctuary, alerted BDMLR 
West
Cornwall Coordinators Tim Bain and Dave Jarvis to it and they went
to the site with Medics Lesley Jarvis and Sue Sayer.
The pup was located and assessed. It was malnourished
and dehydrated; in fact its eyes were covered with sand, which were
not being flushed with water. The Medics washed the sand out of
its eyes, and it was noticed that the left eye was not in good condition.
There was no sign of any other seals in the area, and the whitecoat
pup, just beginning its moult, appeared to have no intention of
going back into the water and kept moving further up the beach.
Marianne was
updated on the pup's condition and it was quickly decided to bring
the pup in for treatment. Tim jumped the pup, and with Dave's help
manoeuvred it into a cage. From there, it was taken in relays by
the Medics up to Dave's car, whereupon it was transported to the
Seal Sanctuary.
Once at the
Sanctuary Marianne and Tim carried out the clinical assessment,
and it was found that the female pup, now named 'Red' (due 
to
the proximity of the Red River to the location of the pup), had
a small puncture wound to its left eye, and also a few cuts and
grazes.
The pup is now being held in an isolation pen, where
she is being tube fed fluids and receiving treatment for her other
injuries.
This rescue comes a week after the North Cornwall
BDMLR group, led by Coordinator Bob Bulgin, rescued a grey seal
pup from a public beach at Port Gaverne, near Port Isaac, after
keeping watch on it for 24 hours, which was then transported to
the National Seal Sanctuary.
Medic
Dan Jarvis
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
West Cornwall
Common
seal pup attacked by dogs - Scotland
October 8th
Elaine Roft
was monitoring "Octo", one of the common pups born this
year as it lay on the Glaxo bank sunning itself. Two other seals
were present in the surfline. Sadly, a dog walker with 2 dogs approached
the pup and it 
was
attacked on the beach and thrown backwards into the water. The pup
appeared a good 30 minutes later and having hauled itself back on
to the sand was attacked yet again by another dog that had appeared.
The pup was observed some 40 minutes later swimming on the Ferryden
side towards the open sea. The Medics are currently waiting on it
hauling out again so that its injuries, if any, can be assessed.
Locals are also on alert to report back to the Medics should it
re-appear on the Glaxo side of the beach. It was observed late last
night in the surfline with a group of adult common seals but was
outwith "safety" boundaries and daylight was fading for
Elaine to check it out.
[
pic : Octo with two adult seals on the Annat Bank before being attacked.
Picture Credit Ian Paterson Photography ]
Elaine
Roft
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
Montrose Area Co-ordinator (Inverbervie-Easthaven)
Common
Seals suffering unusual injury
Report
from BDMLR National Coordinator, Lucie Kirk
[ click images
for larger size ]
We received a call on Thursday (23rd
September) evening at about 8pm to attend a weaned common seal on
the beach at Old Hunstanton just in front of the golf course, the
call came to us via staff at the Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary by
a member of the public.
British Diver Medics Duane Kirk and
Kieran Copeland took Duane’s Landrover and headed off in the
direction the animal was last sighted. The seal wasn’t difficult
to find even in the failing light and five minutes later it was
on its way to the Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary.
Once in the hospital it was given a
full examination. It was quite a large pup weighing in at 15kg,
it had a slightly high temperature just touching 38.2 and had several
nasty looking bite marks around its head and neck which had been
noticed when it was on the beach and were now cleaned up.
The real shock
came when they went to tube feed the animal with fluids and discovered
that it had a gapping hole in the roof of its mouth.
The
Old Hunstanton pup, Thursday 23rd September
This is the forth Common Seal to come
into the centre with this sort of injury over the last few months.
Duane collected a common pup from Holkham
beach on the North Norfolk coast two weeks ago which together with
running a very high temperature had a similar injury in its mouth.
In this case the hole actually went right though the bone in the
roof of the seals mouth.
The
Holkham pup Friday 17th September.
An earlier case included a Common seal
“Selma” which BDMLR had rescued and brought up to Hunstanton
from Kent with yet another hole and a large area of the bone clearly
visible.
“Selma”
from Kent in August.
And another case in August “Hagrid”
another weaned common pup with massive injuries to the roof of its
mouth. Unfortunately due the nature of Hagrid’s injuries it
was agreed that it would be best if he was humanely euthanased.
The
Forth case “Hagrid” mid August
Has anyone else seen trauma like this
in seals anywhere else around the coast this year and does anyone
know what might be causing it. It has been suggested that it could
be exposure to harmful bacteria from sewage run off after flooding,
however there hasn’t really been any flooding in Norfolk this
year. Another theory is possible injury from seals being caught
by “long liners” fishing off the East Anglian coast.
I would be interested in any feedback
you may have on this subject.
Lucie
Kirk
National Coordinator
British Divers Marine Life Rescue
Email: lucie@bdmlr.org.uk
Beluga
whales urgently need your help
The Marine
Connection were extremely concerned recently to receive reports
of marine mammals being held at a new "swim with dolphins"
facility in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt. Enquiries have shown that these
animals, in particular the beluga whales, are being subjected to
horrendous conditions and we are asking everyone to contact the
authorities and management to help get these animals out of this
desperate situation.
For
more information on how YOU can help CLICK
HERE
Seal
Pup caught in netting - Wales
I thought you
might want to see. Its of a seal pup trapped in netting. You can't
see enough of the netting to appreciate how much there was. It took
3 people to drag the netting from the shore and I think was recycled
locally as football nets.
The pictures illustrate the damage discarded nets can cause the
marine life.
All the best
Richard Abbott
RSPCA
BDMLR
Medic - Dominican Republic Report
I used to be
the Thames Valley coordinator before my work got too busy and Gavin
Parsons took over.
I have just
returned from a 4 month expedition in the Dominican Republic, where
I have been working for a local NGO called FUNDEMAR. The bottlenose
dolphins of the Dominican Republic have in the past been the target
of illegal captures for the dolphinarium industry. FUNDEMAR has
been working to try and stop these captures and free dolphins from
captivity. I was invited out by FUNDEMAR and backed by other conservation
charities, to undertake a study of the cetaceans in the waters of
the south east region of the island. This year was the first time
that any such study had occurred and is the first year of at least
a 5 year study. Starting any new project is always hard work and
results can take a while, in fact it was 3 weeks before I had my
first encounter with a group of 40+ bottlenose dolphins. We were
aware that bottlenose dolphins used the area due to reports from
local fishing boats. However the following week I was surprised
to find a group of Atlantic spotted dolphins, I hadn't expected
to find them here. Even more exciting was that they were actively
mixing and feeding with the bottlenose dolphins, this has only previously
been reported in the Bahamas. A total of 134hrs of surveys took
place over 11 weeks, with encounters with the 2 types of dolphins
adding up to 20hrs. The weather played a large part in this years
research, as many of you might be aware this has been the worst
year for hurricanes, and days of flat water were very few and far
between. For next year we plan to hold 2 week research courses where
volunteers will come out and assist in the research, price and dates
to be confirmed. The information collected will be used to help
protect the cetaceans of the Dominican Republic from capture and
hopefully to establish guidelines for marine nature reserves.
Allan
Whaley
Marine Mammal Scientist & BDMLR Medic
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