The National Whale Stranding Recording Scheme

Safety first

The advice for the general public is not to touch any stranded animal: please inform the Museum (see Procedures). If contact with any animal is unavoidable please follow these guidelines for your own safety:

*	Contact should be kept to a minimum. Live animals may cause injury through biting or thrashing about. They may also produce contaminated fluids (e.g. from the blow hole). Ideally, expert assistance should be present.
*	Ensure a high standard of personal hygiene. Minor breaks in the skin such as small cuts and abrasions, and which do not present any personal physical imposition, should be kept covered with secure waterproof dressing as a foundation prior to any contact. After contact, exposed skin should be washed thoroughly before attending to any personal requirements such as eating and drinking.
*	Protective clothing should be worn. Gloves, masks, overalls, waterproof aprons, wellington boots, should be worn as appropriate. Avoid producing or being in the presence of aerosols or spray contaminated with the animal's body fluids which may be accidentally ingested or inhaled. All protective clothing should be washed thoroughly after use, if it is to be retained.
*	Avoid injury If any injury is incurred during contact or illness occurs following contact, then medical advice should be sought as soon as possible, informing the doctor that contact with a stranded animal has occurred. Cuts and grazes should be washed, disinfected, and dressed.

Additional considerations

Do not become a stranding Strandings can occur in secluded areas of the coast and the terrain can be very uneven or loose. Checking on the state of the tide and the accessibility or escape from the area when the tide is in, together with the weather forecast for the possible extra effects of a storm, should not be overlooked; neither should the possibility of injury through simply falling over, or the physical demands made on the person in such circumstances.

Do not become a stranding

Strandings can occur in secluded areas of the coast and the terrain can be very uneven or loose. Checking on the state of the tide and the accessibility or escape from the area when the tide is in, together with the weather forecast for the possible extra effects of a storm, should not be overlooked; neither should the possibility of injury through simply falling over, or the physical demands made on the person in such circumstances.

Present for a stranding, a human casualty being stretchered to the rescue helicopter.

The rescue helicopter leaving the beach with its casualty, heading for hospital.

Photographs by C.J.H.Spurrier

Zoonoses

Zoonoses are diseases which are transferrable from animals to man. Four groups may be recognized under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (CoSHH) regulations 1994.

1	Unlikely to cause harm to humans.
2	May cause disease in humans. Unlikely to spread to the community. Effective prophylactic treatment and treatment of infection are available.
3	Can cause severe disease in humans. May spread in the community. Effective prophylactic treatment and treatment of infection are usually available.
4	Can cause severe disease in humans. The disease is contagious and likely to spread in the community. There is no effective prophylaxis or treatment of infection.

The then Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) advised that, in veterinary investigations, previously unreported Brucella organisms had been isolated in some of the internal organs of 'common seals, harbour porpoises, and dolphins taken from waters around Scotland' and that 'infection is likely to be present in marine mammals around the coast of Great Britain'. MAFF also mentioned the 'isolation of a brucella-like organism from a dolphin on the US pacific coast'. Although these strains of Brucella were not known to present any risk to human health, nevertheless, caution was advised as Brucellae were classified as Group3 pathogens. The advice should be taken to persist under DEFRA.

pathogen, agent causing disease. [from pathos (Greek) deep suffering, pity, sadness; genesis ( Greek) birth, giving rise to]

prophylactic, preventative; prophylaxis, preventative treatment [from pro (Greek) before; phylaxis/phylaktikos (Greek) guarding, saving].

Disposal of the carcass

Disposal of the carcass should be left to the relevent authorities. This may be the responsibility of the local Council or it may fall to the Receiver of Wrecks and aides. Disposal may involve simple burial or, at the other extreme, incineration after isolation.