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Orca Lulu's body contained PCB levels 100x above the safe limit. Image: SMASS

Toxic tides, troubled whales: the toll of chemical pollution

In last week's blog, we examined the challenges whales and dolphins face as they travel...
Group of orcas at surface

Breaking barriers for whales and dolphins at the Convention of Migratory Species

Many species of whales, dolphins and porpoises undertake long journeys, encountering human-made obstacles along the...
Tokyo

WDC in Japan – Part 1: Finding allies in Tokyo

At the end of May, I embarked on an incredible journey to Japan on behalf...
Amazon river dolphins leaping

The state of river dolphin conservation

At Whale and Dolphin Conservation, we partner with conservationists and communities fighting to save river...
Researchers in Southeast Alaska studying whale poo

We’re funding crucial research on whale poo to combat the climate crisis

The ocean is one of the lungs of our planet, and whales help it to...
Narwhal surfacing

The unicorns of the sea must be protected – CITES

The narwhal, is under threat. Often referred to as the unicorns of the sea, narwhals,...
Sperm whales

We’re pushing governments for action for our climate heroes – whales

The climate crisis is the greatest threat to all life on Earth. But there is...
Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...

Learning to rescue stranded whales in Adelaide

Whales and dolphins swimming free in the ocean are the very essence of controlled grace. Stranded on shore they are pathetically helpless.

There appear to be many reasons cetaceans strand, including getting lost and confused, being sick or injured, or being chased there by predators such as sharks and orcas. Evidence is accumulating that loud noises produced by various human activities also play a role.

It is very clear that the sooner cetaceans can be rescued after coming ashore, the greater is their chance of survival. Having a pool of trained people can significantly reduce the response time of a rescue.

Courses on how to assist at a stranding are now run in many parts of the world. Last weekend I ran one in Adelaide, Australia for thirty government staff and volunteers (including two people from the board of WDC Australasia). The course involved providing people with some basic biological information on cetaceans and the ones which strand in our region, followed by step by step instruction on how to deal with different stranding scenarios.

We don’t have very many live strandings in the Adelaide area but we are certainly much better equipped to handle one quickly and effectively now!