Hi all,

It was a busy day in the field today. This morning we received a call from a person on Humarock Beach in Scituate, Mass. who found a stranded seal. For any of you who have followed this blog you know that seals commonly come out of the water to rest on shore and are often not injured or "stranded." As always it's important to keep your distance and observe the seal without disturbing it. You can report a seal you think is stranded by calling the 24-hour Marine Animal Hotline: (617) 973-5247.

The Rescue Team will not approach these seals unless there is an obvious injury. This seal, however, did have an injury and was lethargic. The following pictures show what that looks like.


Photos above were taken by Donald Armstrong. I authorized Donald to approach this
seal for good photographs, which I then used to make the decision to collect the animal. (Click to enlarge)


Photo by Donald Armstrong. In this photo you can see the blood around the lower jaw and dribbling down the chest of the animal.

Kate and New England Aquarium Veterinarian Dr. Julie Cavin took a team down to assess the animal and determined that it did need to be collected. They collected it and performed a physical exam, including blood collection and analysis. It was difficult to determine the source of the blood since there was a significant amount of it.


This photo was taken during the physical exam. The towel is used in restraint so that the animal is not able to bite the person holding the seal while the vet examines the wounds. Notice the rings around this animal's eyes. Seals don't have return tear ducts so wet rings is a sign of good hydration in seals.



The seal was kenneled after the exam and transported to the University of New England (UNE) Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center. The seal will undergo a series of diagnostics over the next several says to determine the cause of the wounds and its overall health. Our network partners at UNE will have their work cut out for them with this case. We'll keep you posted on her condition (yes it is a little female).

- Connie

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Labels: Connie, harbor seal, strandings, University of New England

At least twice a week we bring out Acadia, the loggerhead sea turtle, for treatments. She has some superficial skin lesions on her leading edge of the front flippers. This is often seen in cold-stunned sea turtles after they are returned to their proper temperature.


Acadia as she is removed from her rehabilitation tank for treatment.

Some of the skin sloughed off and under microscopic examination we noticed some bacterial rods, this finding prompting the veterinarians to start her on an antibiotic. Her blood work also still shows some minor anemia so we also have been giving her a shot of iron as well.

Labels: Acadia, cold-stun, lesions, loggerhead

We are very sorry to report that Crater Lake, the Kemp's ridley sea turtle with severe propeller wounds, died overnight. Crater's energy level dropped on Sunday and the blood work started to take a turn for the worse. Aquarium veterinarians adjusted fluid therapy and prescribed new medications in an effort to save Crater, but unfortunately were not successful.


Rescue Team member Kerry McNally with Crater

With such severe injuries, this outcome is not completely unexpected, but we had been hopeful when Crater seemed to be doing well in the first week after admission. We will continue to study Crater's case today in an effort to understand more, which will hopefully help us treat turtles with similar injuries in the future.


Crater's propeller injuries immediately after rescue.

-Kate

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Labels: Crater, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, propeller strike

Crater Lake or Crater for short was brought in yesterday afternoon off of a beach in Sandwich Mass. The Aquarium's Marine Animal Rescue Team went down and met up with James and Dennis from Wellfleet Audubon. They had already taken the turtle off the beach and were ready to get the turtle packed up in our ambulance to head back to the Aquarium.


This was another Kemp's ridley that had a severe fracture to the carapace (top part of shell). It looks like it probably was made by a boat propeller. We cleaned up the shell a bit and determined that the fracture did not appear to involve any major organs. Dr Innis and Dr Cavin flushed out the areas of soft tissue under the fracture and tried to determine the best route of action.




After stabilizing the fracture, Crater was tucked in to the ICU for the night. So today we decided to put the turtle back together again!
The team getting ready for the procedures.
Putting the shell back together.

Placing Glad Press and Seal and Tegaderm to help create suction.

Dr Innis starting the Vacuum pump to create negative pressure.
Crater tucked into the ICU to allow the negative pressure to work.

Labels: Crater, propeller strike, Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

So there is a little bit of a debate about our new turtle's name.

Labels: Acadia, Bandalier, Bryce, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead

While part of the rescue group was off on the cape helping with a training session. Two of our other staff members were at the New England Aquarium receiving our second sea turtle of the season. Unlike Acadia this one fit the typical stranding scenario.


Our newest sea turtle of the 2009-2010 cold-stun season.

Labels: Acadia, aquarium medical center, Bandalier, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Sea Turtle Recovery Room

Hi everyone,

Yesterday we hosted our joint mass stranding response-training with our stranding partners from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The IFAW stranding team covers the mainland Cape Cod, which is home to frequent mass stranding events. For those of you who are not familiar with the term mass stranding, this refers to the phenomenon of multiple dolphins or whales coming ashore at the same time.


Aquarium staff and volunteers are shown in action during a recent mass stranding of Atlantic white sided dolphins. In this photo they are on stretchers being prepared for release. (Photo: Connie Merigo)

These events can be quite large and range between 2 to 100 or more animals coming ashore at once. Managing these events takes a great many resources, careful planning, and a lot of training between the two organizations. The other key ingredient for successful mass stranding response is a large team of highly trained, dedicated volunteers.

Our mass stranding volunteers are required to attend a lot of training before responding to mass stranded dolphins and whales. Yesterday's class was an advanced course, which included lectures, breakout groups, practical skills and a written test. We are most fortunate to have a wonderful group of dedicated mass stranding volunteers, below are photos of them and the staff during the training workshop.


In the photo above, Kate (left), Kerry (center) and our volunteer Erin are ready to check in all the volunteers.


The New England Aquarium Dive Club sponsored the event and provided all the participants with hot coffee and breakfast. Many of the Dive Club members helped with this event, I just happened by with my camera and caught Mike and Charles from the club having a laugh over coffee.


Above left, Charles and Katie from IFAW get the crowd geared up at the start of the lecture portion of the day. Center photo show Misty from IFAW (second from left), Kate and Adam listening to another presenter and preparing to give their lectures. Photo on right shows Kate presenting her lecture.


Jane from IFAW provides a refresher to a small group of volunteers on our technique to safely put a dolphin in a stretcher.


Before leaving for the day all the volunteers completed a written test. It wasn't easy, just look at the concentration on the faces of Marty (left) and Larry!

The New England Aquarium and IFAW rescue teams wish to thank everyone who helped make yesterday a sucessful day of training. We also thank the New England Aquarium Dive Club for providing the participants with breakfast. We especially thank all the volunteers who attended the workshop. It is in large part their dedication that makes it possible for us to provide the highest quality response and care to mass stranded whales and dolphins.

- Connie

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Labels: Connie, Mass Strandings, New England Aquarium Dive Club, training

Acadia, the loggerhead sea turtle, is adjusting well to her tank. We took her out on Thursday to run blood work, do an exam, and give more fluids. Getting her out of the pool is no easy task!


Kate Sardi, Rescue Department senior biologist, and Eric Payne, Animal Health Department biologist, put on dry suits and courageously went into the tank to help Acadia out.

Labels: Acadia, blood work, Kerry, loggerhead