Campaigners learn how to save sea life by practicing with an inflatable WHALE

Now THAT looks like a beached whale! Volunteers ‘save’ rubber model to learn life-saving skills after rise in number of sea mammals getting stranded on UK shores

  • Scores of people turned up to the ‘mass stranding scenario’, in Musselburgh
  • Scheme run by the mammal rescue charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue
  • It involved volunteers saving the inflatable models of pilot whales in scenarios

Campaigners learnt how to save sea life by practicing with inflatable whales after a rising in the number of mammals getting stranded in the UK. 

The exercise, saw 70 volunteers rehearse the steps they would take if a group of whales became trapped on shore.

The drills took place at Musselburgh near Edinburgh, Scotland and were led by the charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue who used rubber models in the place of real whales. 

The exercise, saw 70 volunteers rehearse the steps they would take if a group of whales became trapped on shore

Volunteers work on one of the inflatable whales at the training simulation in Scotland

Volunteers work on one of the inflatable whales at the training simulation in Scotland

The exercise, saw 70 volunteers rehearse the steps they would take if a group of whales became trapped on shore

The exercise, saw 70 volunteers rehearse the steps they would take if a group of whales became trapped on shore

Dan Jarvis, the BDMLR’s welfare development officer, told the East Lothian Courier: ‘These exercises don’t happen too often as they’re a huge logistical challenge to set up with getting a large proportion of our rescue equipment resources from around the country in one place at one time.

‘However, they are really important and useful to our volunteers.

This is for gaining experience, testing their first aid and assessment skills, and particularly for our incident co-ordinators to really get their teeth into taking charge of a situation and organising everything from animal care to emergency services liaison to crowd and media control.’

Britain has seen a rise in mass strandings involving pilot whales in recent years in particular, with one of the largest incidents involving over 70 animals in the far North of Scotland.

The volunteers take out a rubber whale into the ocean to simulate how they would actually have a real mammal

The volunteers take out a rubber whale into the ocean to simulate how they would actually have a real mammal

Mass strandings can occur because a sick or injured animal inadvertently leads the others ashore as they try to help it; some frightened by loud underwater noises such as sonar or explosions; or simply from coming into intertidal areas and becoming disoriented in an unfamiliar habitat.

Corinne Gordon, BDMLR’s Area Coordinator for the Edinburgh region, commented ‘I’m really looking forward to this taking on this challenge and seeing how we perform not only as individuals, but working together as a team. 

‘This is one of the amazing things about this charity, in that as trained volunteers we can still essentially be strangers to one another, but when called upon in a real-life situation we come together to achieve what is best for this enigmatic creatures.’  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk