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!

Whale happenings in the area

As you may remember from my post  Gray Whale Stranding last year, large whale strandings require a lot help.  

Over the weekend, in nearby Skagit county, 2 dead gray whales have washed ashore in separate locations.  This area is covered by the CPSMMSN,  and it looks as though some of our group from the WMMSN will head down to assist with the necropsies of these 2 marine mammals.  Necropsies are done to try and determine cause of death and gather samples for scientific research.  Unfortunately I can't be there today to help, but maybe for tomorrow.

In addition to those 2 stranding events, a group of transient orcas attacking a different gray whale was caught on tape by whale watchers.  Here's some coverage from King 5 News (Seattle) on the event:

Wow!  Pretty spectacular to see that kind of attack going on right here in the Puget Sound.  

If you can, please "chip in" and help support the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network

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. 

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.

Full circle: Chitenango returns home to the wild

What a great day.  A group of about 10 of us from Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network (WMMSN) traveled to Friday Harbor to see the culmination of care and release of Chitenango and 2 other seal pups that had been cared for by Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation on San Juan Island.  

After 2 ferry trips, we arrived at Friday Harbor with some time to spare before the release so I had a chance to wander this cute little town.  I found a neat little shop full of saucy soveniers, the San Juan Hot Shop Flavor Emporium .  I had a great experience speaking with Eddie, one of the shop owners, about some of their delicious and spicy selections and life on the island.  What a nice guy!

I love the sinage here all painted placards as you walk down this street.

 

 

Fantastic selection!  And every sauce is chosen for it's flavor.  

The motto here is "spice is nice, but it's gotta have flavor!"

Eddie has tasted every one of these saucy treats!

After a little bit of shopping and sight seeing, we convened at the Churchhill Coffee House and grabbed a light lunch while waiting for the members of Wolf Hollow to show us to the release site.

Once we arrived at the location, Shona gave us a quick briefing on the process of releasing Chitenango, Lotus and Dragonfly, the 3 seals that were scheduled for today.  The site was a small inlet that was close to an outcropping where seals often haul out of the water.  The idea is to release them in a place where they can easily  reconnect with other wild seals.

We were directed to a nice location for the viewing. There was quite a crowd of observers including a reporter from the San Juan Journal who was covering the release for the local paper.  Chitenango, as you have heard, was found on Village Point on Lummi Island.  The other 2 pups, Lotus and Dragonfly were both found on San Juan Island.  Dragonfly was a bit of a local celebrity having been found on the beach near Downriggers Restaurant.  Here's a link to the article about when she was found.

 

Some of our group from WMMSN and other observers

The release was very quick and smooth.  The staff from Wolf Hollow brought the pups to the beach in covered carriers.  Simultaneously all 3 were uncovered and the doors opened at the waters edge.  One of the pups came out of it's carrier into the water like a flash and quickly swam out into the bay.  The other 2 pups took a minute to contemplate the situation before splashing into the water.  Then once in the water, all three stayed close to the shore for sometime and seemed to take comfort in the presence of eachother, but after about 10 minutes of acclimating to their new environment they too headed out into the bay.

It was fantastic to see this story come full circle!  Thanks to the folks at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehab, these little creatures got a second chance at a healthy life!

The staff opens the carriers and the pups get their first view of the inlet

Chitenango was the last of the 3 to hit the water 

 Lotis, Dragonfly and Chitenago enjoying their new found freedom!

With a last goodbye, these pups went out into the Puget Soundto live out their natural lives

After the release, we were invited up to the facility to learn a bit more about how Wolf Hollow is helping marine mammals and other wildlife in need of rehabilitation.  This was quite a special treat because their facility is not open to the public. 

Our main interest was  the marine mammal area where we learned the process for caring for the seal pups Each pup is first placed in an isolation tub and they are evaluated for injuries.  Blood work is done to check the general health of the pups.  Each rescue is different according to the needs of the animal, and can include formula feedings, medication, wound cleaning and care.  Human contact is limited to an as needed basis in order to maintain the wildness of these creatures.

 

Here's one of the rehab pools.  These 2 pups are waiting for their

clean bill of health and then will be released too

As the pups begin to recover from their distress they move from eating formula to fish.  They are hand fed to begin with, but the ultimate goal is for these pups to be able to fend for themselves in the wild.  They are soon "fishing" their own food from the bottom of their tubs. Once the pups are healthy enough, they are exposed to a larger tank where they can be together with other seals and swim and dive.  Each pup is individually evaluated by the care staff, and when they have gained sufficient weight, are able to feed themselves and have a clean bill of health, they are ready for release!

We then toured the rest of the facility.  Wolf Hollow is a 40 acre facility and they care for all kinds of wildlife including eagles, hawks, squirrels, deer, otters, racoons, and foxes.  What a fantastic place and a phenominal staff of dedicated people!

 

Some of the pens used for small species

 

Our wonderful hosts: Shona, Vanessa & Penny

After our lovely tour, we returned to Friday Harbor.  We had a couple more hours to tour about the town.   I really wanted to get a feel for this island community so I stopped in at Herbs Tavern to rub elbows with the locals.  The highlight of my time in the city of Friday Harbor was being mistaken for a local at the bar where a couple of visitors asked me for directions.  I guess I must radiate "islander" or it could be my lucky camo cap.  Either way I felt it was a true compliment!

 

Local humor on the ceiling at Herb's Tavern

 

With happy hearts we reboarded the Elwa, and started our

long journey home.  What a fantastic day!

Wolf Hollow field trip

If you've been a fan or follower of me on FatBottomBags for a while,  you'll remember the little seal pup that we found out here on Lummi Island back on July 27th. He's the cute pup in the picture above.

Here's Chitenango napping on the beach at Lummi Island

A few of us in the Whatcom Marine Stranding Network live out here and so we all took turns observing him on the beach.  Unless an animal is in distress that's what we do, observe and keep the public back far enough from the marine mammal so that it can be undisturbed.

Fortunately, he was on a private beach area, so there was no pressing need to have an observer there at all times.  We checked in on him every few hours over the daylight hours of the next 2 days.

The first evening we were hopeful because he had moved down the beach on his own.  We thought that this might indicate his mother was coming in during the dark hours to nurse him.

The first night at sunset he'd moved down the beach about 200 yards

Unfortunately by the second day it was obvious that he had been abandoned on this stretch of beach and he was too young to fend for himself.  So one of our volunteers took him in a carrier by boat to Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center to be cared for.

By the next morning he'd moved back and looked very thin.

Now he was crying out in distress and was becoming a little 

too friendly toward the volunteer observers.

 

He was a sickly 14.6 pounds upon his arrival.  The great folks at Wolf Hollow named him Chitenango and  nurtured him with formula feedings, medicine and eventually whole fish.  Now that our little Chitenango is eating fish on his own he's up to a healthy weight of 49.8 pounds as of  10/9/09.

So now Chitenango is healthy and ready to be released and live the life of a harbor seal.  Today I'm off on a field trip to tour the rehab facility and to witness  his return to the wild along with 2 other rehabilitated pups, Lotis and Dragonfly.

I will be posting to Twitter and Facebook throughout the day with interesting facts and I will blog about the full story tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Being a volunteer with WMMSN has been extremely rewarding and I get to learn so much!  Hope you will consider supporting our efforts by donating or volunteering.

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.