More about the WMMSN

With so much grey whale activity happening around the Puget Sound the last week or so, it's no surprise that the members of the WMMSN were quickly geared up and ready to go when called in to assist with a grey whale stranded at Samish Island.

The Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network is made up of individual volunteers who share a love and concern for marine mammals. Each volunteer completes training in species identification, recognizing and documenting injuries and illnesses, data collection, establishing safe perimeter and much more.

Whether the animal is dead or alive, each and every stranding is documented and added to a national data base that is accessible by scientists and researches.  The information gathered by stranding networks in coastal areas is important for many research projects. 

I am just thrilled to be a part of such a fantastic and dedicated group of volunteers.  Our group includes naturalists, marine biologists, wildlife lovers, retirees, homemakers, and students.  Each individual adds different strengths and perspectives to make for a well rounded group.

If you share an interest in marine mammals and live in Whatcom County, WA, why not join up as a volunteer?  I'm so happy that I did! 

Maybe you live outside of the area, but would still like to support the efforts of the WMMSN?  Stop over at the website and get your WMMSN T-shirt!  The money we're raising supports our efforts for strandings like this grey whale.

Isn't the front of the T-shirt adorable? It's walking whales!

The back of the T-shirt is a print of the WMMSN Logo

And if you want more information on the grey whale from Samish Island, jump over to the WMMSN website.  There are photos from yesterdays stranding response up for your viewing.  You may be surprised to see how many boats and people it takes to move an adult grey whale off the beach!

Another learning opportunity through WMMSN

As a volunteer with the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network, I have a lot of neat opportunities to learn new and interesting things related to our work of helping with stranded marine mammals. 

This week was no exception.  On Saturday I, along with other volunteers from WMMSN and Northwest Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, attended a training class to learn how to triage for distressed seal pups. This training was taught by Penny Harner, a staff rehabilitator from Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.  

You may remember Wolf Hollow from my post about the release of Chitenango, our little seal pup rescued from Lummi Island last year.

Chitenango when found on the beach at Lummi Island

Chitenango and friends being released at
San Juan Island after rehab at Wolf Hollow.

Penny taught us how to administer some basic first aid for instances when we might need to keep a seal pup for a short time en route to a rehabilitation facility.  She presented us with all kinds of information on how we could best help a distressed seal pup including housing, wound care, administering fluids if necessary & heating and cooling a pup. 

What a fantastic opportunity this was to learn more about the care of seal pups.  I'm so glad that I am able to volunteer to help and learn so much along the way.

As a member of the general public, should you come across a stranded marine mammal, remember it is against the law to approach them or harass them in any way. Remember, your strolling through their natural habitat!  The best thing to do is stay back, keep dogs away and observe.  If you notice that the mammal is in distress, contact your marine mammal stranding network and pass on as much information as you can note that might help the volunteers from the network to locate and assist the mammal.

P.S.  Seal pup season is fast approaching and the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network will once again be busy responding to seal pup calls.  Now is a great time to help support our efforts. Donations of any amount help us to purchase equipment such as carriers, ropes and other items needed for stranding responses and to pay for trainings like the one I attended this week.  Donations $25 and receive your very own Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network Tshirt. 

Skipping Saturday

Today I was scheduled to attend the Ways of Whales  workshop given by the Orca Network   Instead I'm hugging my pillow and watching Netflix from bed.  Stupid cold! Why I get sick when I have plans is one of lifes great mysteries.  Oh well, what can you do?  Here's a shot of an orca I took this summer.

Naturalists can tell the one orca from another by

their unique saddle patch behind the dorsal fin

Interesting Orca fact:  Did you know Orcas, or killer whales aren't really whales at all? They are actually the largest of the dolphins. 

More problems with plastic bags

I'm sorry and saddened to be writing this post today. About a month ago a group of 7 sperm whales stranded on the shores of Foggia, Italy where they died. After being examined by the scientists there, it was determined that all 7 died from ingesting plastic bags. Here's a link to the article from United Press International UPI

Sperm whales are majestic creatures.  They normally grow to 50-60 feet and weigh in at 40-50 tons! But sadly plastic bags do not make size discriminations.  Plastic bags floating in the ocean are mistaken for food by many sea creatures.  They can resemble squid and jellyfish and they are consumed by wildlife.  Once consumed they can become entangled in the digestive tract of the animal and the animal dies as was the case with this group of sperm whales.

Here's a short video from the National Geographic chanel on YouTube

People we've got to realize that our oceans are not dumping grounds!  We need to become more aware of these plastic bags and where they are winding up.  I've read estimates that 80% of the plastic debris in our oceans has washed out from land through storm drains, creeks, streams and rivers.   They seem harmless enough lying about on land, but once these plastic bags make their way into our oceans, they become the right hand of death!

I fully support ideas like plastic bag bans and taxes to help us all reduce our use of plastic bags and help prevent further tragedies from taking place like these poor sperm whales.  The beautiful diversity of wildlife on our planet should not suffer for our convenience!

Plastic is not fantastic!

Ban the Bag!

Bring your own bag!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Respect the Earth!

Yay for baby orcas!

So those of you who know me, know that marine mammals are an important part of my life.  My uncle John and my good friend Victoria both work on the Island Caper, an orca watch boat out of Bellingham, WA. I've had the pleasure of taking the trip out 3 times and each time have been brought to tears by the majestic beauty of our backyard neigbors.

Island Mariner Cruises has their own spotter plane to find the orcas!

I also volunteer with a group of wonderful dedicated folks with the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network, I subscribe to several orca newsletters including my favorite Orca Network and I cruise the internet regularly looking for marine mammal news! 

 

One of my shots from the whale watch.  For better photos visit the Orca Network

 
One interesting thing about our resident orcas is that they are distinctly different from the transient orcas, or killer whales, that feed on other marine mammals. Our local pods feed on a diet of salmon, they have their own distinct language and do not inter-breed with the transients. The orcas that you see in aquariums like SeaWorld, were captured and taken from our local waters. For more information on Orcas in captivity and other orca knowledge, check out the American Cetacean Society (ACS) webpage.

This year there's been a baby boom amongst the resident pods!  Here's an article in our local paper, The Bellingham Herald, discussing the theories as to why the increase in population may be occurring.  Whatever the reason I say, "YAY for baby orcas!".

On 2 of my 3 trips out orca watching, we had baby orcas that approached the boat.  They are so curious about the world around them!  I wish I had some better photos to share, but I was so enthralled when this happened that I just set the camera down and enjoyed the show. 

So happy after seeing the orcas!

I've said it before and I'll say it again because it is true......... I am truely blessed to live in the beautiful pacific northwest where the beauty of nature and wildlife is so close at hand.  For that I can live with the rain and many days of grey.

Seal Tagging Training

Oh boy!  Looking out at Hales passage at the Whatcom Cheif, I could see it was going to be a bumpy ride.  On a day like this I might normally reconsider a trip to town.  Not this time.  This time I was on a mission.  I was heading to town to learn how to tag seals and that would be worth a wild ride on the ferry.

As a volunteer responder for Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network I have great opportunities to learn new and interesting things having to do with marine mammals. 

In this last year I've learned about Grey whales, wildlife rehab at Wolf Hollow, harbor porpoise,  and now I was going to learn how to tag a seal pup with a special wildlife tag.  How cool!

These numbered tags are used to help identify a marine mammal

 that has been responded to by the stranding network

We learned what items we would need to add to our response kits for

tagging  including betedine to clean the seal flipper and the equipment.

We had a great trainer, Joe Gaydos, DVM PhD. Joe showed us how to properly handle a live seal pup for tagging and gave us some hands on experience using the tagger. I won't get into the "how to" detail here. If you are interested in these sort of trainings and helping marine mammals you may want to become a volunteer responder too. 

Upon completion of our training, Joe gave each of us a lovely map from the SeaDoc Society of the recently recognised Salish Sea 

I love volunteering!  In giving a small bit of myself and my time to WMMSN to help marine mammals and their cause I've gained so much more.

Grey Whale Stranding Response

Orignal posting:
April 30, 2009

Well I made it out there yesterday around 2 pm. What a sight. It was a juvinielle male gray whale estimated at 2 years old and somewhere around 10,000 pounds!

Carley was out working as the coordinator on this stranding and she was able to contact the Andrew Foss of Foss ships and recruited them to pull the carcass off of the beach for us and coordinated with the county to bring out a crew and a small boat to run line to and from the Andrew Foss.

Thanks Rhonnie! She loaned me her cell phone to take out to the site as mine was dead and my charger is in the car in Goldbar! Good thing too, as this phone became our only contact phone at the site.

The crew from the Andrew Foss came ashore and evaluated the situation and said they would be happy to help, provided we had a strong enough line for towing. We did not and so one of the crew suggested we contact Samson Rope in Ferndale for a donation to the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

I got on the phone with Charolette at Sampson and she worked so hard to find us some suitable line in the 2000 feet that we were looking for. She and the warehouse manager worked in tandem on this for over an hour and many phone calls from me but unfortunately couldn't find anything in that length and strength.

I made a new request for any 2 lines that we could splice and they went through the whole process again and came up with a wonderful donation. Then they even let us come after hours for pick up!!! Thanks to Joe in shipping and the warehouse manager (sorry, but don't remember his name)!

One of our volunteers , Bill, went into to pick up the line and when he returned we tied up the gray. I even got to make cut through the body to form a notch for the tow line to be attached.

If you would have told me yesterday morning that by evening I'd be cutting through the blubber of a whale I'd have thought you were crazy! But sure enough that was what I did. It was interesting and very cool!. The whale blubber is very greasy and thick!

Once the line was secure, we cleared the beach of onlookers for their safety. We had them move back where they could still see, but wouldn't be in harms way if something went wrong.

The county crew ran a line out to the Andrew Foss and then the tug pulled the carcass off the beach. Thank goodness it stayed in one peace and floated! They transported it down the beach to our tie off location and 5 of us volunteers walked down the beach and met them. Then the county brought in the line and we secured the carcass to the beach keeping the body below the low tide line. Where it will wait for a crew from the Friday Harbor Whale Museum to pick it up and bring it to their location. What they are doing with it I am not sure.

Once we had it secure we walked back the 1/2 mile of beach to our cars and made it after sunset, but before total darkness.

Now you can see what a coordinated effort this can be and that was just day 3! So many volunteers were needed for each phase of this.

The Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network is such a fantastic organization. Anything we can do to support them makes such a difference! If you want to get involved as a volunteer or want to help support them financially, the website is http://www.wmmsn.org/

Remember if you see a stranded marine mammal whether dead or alive, you must by law stay back 100 feet. Then please contact the local marine mammal stranding network. They will come and evaluate the animal, dead or alive and they gather data that is used by scientists and researchers world wide.

I'm so happy to be a small part of this organization and consider myself really blessed to be able to help make a difference in the world.

Having a porpoise in life

Original posting
Friday, September 4, 2009


I live on an island in the Puget Sound and enjoy a close connection with wildlife and nature even here in my own back yard.One of my passions in life is marine conservation. The oceans and the life within them are so important to our lives here on land.

Early this year I began to volunteer with a local group the Whatcom Marine Mammal Standing Network (http://www.wmmsn.org/ ) Through my association with this group I've been able to take part in several very interesting interactions with marine mammals, some alive, others found dead at the beach.

About a month ago we had a stranded seal pup here on the island. I got to go and observe this cute little creature. After 2 days of observation the pup was taken to a local rehab facility where he will be cared for until he is able to fend for himself. Hopefully he will be released back into the wild this fall. This stranding call had a happy ending, but that's not always the case.

Most recently we had a call for a small harbor porpoise that had died and washed ashore at the NW side of Lummi Island. It was collected by a volunteer and brought in to be examined to determine the cause of it's death. A lot of information can be gathered from a deceased marine mammal that has washed ashore.

Members of our group who were interested were invited to observe and participate in the necropsy which took place yesterday. I was able to attend. WOW! I learned so much.

Back in my younger days I was quite squeemish about death and so even back in high school I opted out of biology to avoid having to do any kind of disections. These days, I find I'm not squeemish and more curious to learn about this sort of thing.

It was very interesting to see how this process works. The carcass was methodically examined, measured and recorded. Samples were taken for various researchers who are gathering data related to marine mammals and our environment.

As the porpoise was examined I was able to see, touch and learn about the anatomy of harbor porpoises. I have a very hands on learning style so this was ideal for me. I won't go into graphic detail because I know others may not care to hear about a scientific necropsy.

Through this examination it was determined that this young female most likely died due to an acute trauma, likely a boat strike. She had hematoma on her right side and showed some damage to the lung on that side as well as 2 broken ribs.

It's amazing what scientists are able to see and learn based on these type of exams. Because of a thick blubber layer on marine mammals, there is often no outward sign of an injury. The only effective way to find out about an injury like this is to thouroughly examine the animal through a necropsy. Often though even after a necropsy, no difinite cause of death can be determined.

I'm really glad that I'm able to participate with this group and expand my own knowledge base as well as help with recording information that is used by scientists around the world who are studying marine mammals and our environment.

Groups like ours are small non profits who together gather information related to marine mammals all over the world. If you are interested in helping with this cause, check your local Stranding Network for volunteer opportunities. Or support them through donations. For more information on the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding network, head over to the website http://www.wmmsn.org/