September 2012 St. Lucie County Pilot Whale Mass-Stranding Event
September 2012 St. Lucie County Pilot Whale Mass-Stranding Event
Note: Follow this ongoing story via regular updates and reports posted on the Harbor Branch Facebook page.
On the morning of Saturday September 1st, 22 short-finned pilot whales mass-stranded on Avalon Beach in northern St. Lucie County Florida.
Responders on site shortly after the stranding included marine mammal specialists from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and NOAA. Several dozen local residents, volunteers from Pelican Island Audubon Society, and local Red Cross volunteers also joined in the hours-long effort to save as many of the whales as possible.
Of the animals that stranded, five juvenile whales were successfully transported to the Harbor Branch marine mammal critical care facility to be cared for by the staff of the institute’s Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Program (MMRC). Seventeen other animals could not be saved. Some expired in the hands of responders, and ultimately the difficult decision was made to euthanize other animals that were deemed beyond help.
By noon the following Sunday, one of the juveniles transported to Harbor Branch had also died; the other remaining animals at that time showed evidence of infection, malnourishment, and dehydration, but were swimming unaided in the facility’s large care pool. Harbor Branch staff veterinarian Dr. Juli Goldstein at this time described the prognosis of the surviving whales as optimistic yet guarded.
According to MMRC director Steve McCulloch, "the goal is evaluating, stabilizing and rehabilitating these whales, with a goal of releasing the animals back into the wild." Once they become healthy enough, the young whales will be moved to SeaWorld Orlando for longer-term care, with the hope that they may ultimately be returned to the wild.
More extensive press coverage of this story can be found here and here.
Note: Follow this ongoing story via regular updates and reports posted on the Harbor Branch Facebook page.
On the morning of Saturday September 1st, 22 short-finned pilot whales mass-stranded on Avalon Beach in northern St. Lucie County Florida.
Responders on site shortly after the stranding included marine mammal specialists from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and NOAA. Several dozen local residents, volunteers from Pelican Island Audubon Society, and local Red Cross volunteers also joined in the hours-long effort to save as many of the whales as possible.
Of the animals that stranded, five juvenile whales were successfully transported to the Harbor Branch marine mammal critical care facility to be cared for by the staff of the institute’s Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Program (MMRC). Seventeen other animals could not be saved. Some expired in the hands of responders, and ultimately the difficult decision was made to euthanize other animals that were deemed beyond help.
By noon the following Sunday, one of the juveniles transported to Harbor Branch had also died; the other remaining animals at that time showed evidence of infection, malnourishment, and dehydration, but were swimming unaided in the facility’s large care pool. Harbor Branch staff veterinarian Dr. Juli Goldstein at this time described the prognosis of the surviving whales as optimistic yet guarded.
According to MMRC director Steve McCulloch, "the goal is evaluating, stabilizing and rehabilitating these whales, with a goal of releasing the animals back into the wild." Once they become healthy enough, the young whales will be moved to SeaWorld Orlando for longer-term care, with the hope that they may ultimately be returned to the wild.
More extensive press coverage of this story can be found here and here.
