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I saw an article a few months back about whales beaching themselves and nobody really knowing why. There are many theories and it’s believed each situation is a collection of different factors. Could be that the animal was sick or they got too close to shore when hunting. Others may have become confused by bad weather or a disruption to their echolocation. No real way to tell right now. Anyway, it got me thinking about what can be done if you come across a marine mammal in danger.
Beached/Stranded
Every site I found gave simple instructions:
- Do not touch the animal.
- Watch the animal from a safe distance and keep other people and animals away.
- Figure out how to describe your exact location.
- Call a local helpline to get experts to come and help the animal.
This is interesting because of the first part. It’s even said that one shouldn’t pour water on the animal, which you see many people doing. The reason is really because the animal is scared and disoriented. So, they could attack and that may lead to it being euthanized instead of saved.
Now, I have nowhere else to go with this topic. That’s because the rest of the advice for any other situation was what I already said. Yet, we see so many videos of regular people jumping in to help. I was really surprised to find out that they were running a big risk for the animal. Always looked like things were great and inspiring, but now I realize there are probably more times where this goes wrong. So, it’s good advice to not be a hands-on hero and call experts. It’s more important to keep yourself and the animal safe from each other and those that won’t be careful.
Has anybody ever come across a marine mammal in crisis? I never have, so I’m curious about the experience.
Legends of Windemere 
For as long as I lived on the Gulf, I have never come across an animal in trouble
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That’s awesome.
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😊
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I think seas and vast oceans alike must be a very noisy and confusing environment with shipping and off shore wind turbines being installed and then operating.
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Maybe for us. I’m guessing the animals have a better tolerance. Wind turbines probably aren’t as big an issue as oil rigs.
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I’ve never come across a beached marine mammal. It’s interesting that the advice is not to intervene.
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Yeah. I get it. Professionals know how to work with these animals. Amateurs can get themselves attacked, which means the animal is destroyed.
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I have not, and the advice seems accurate.
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I’m guessing it’s rare.
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Not me. Seems like good advice.
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Thanks.
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Definitely a situation you’d want to call the experts in.
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Totally.
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