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AlphaPet plays major role in whale rescue attempt
Early on the morning of Friday 31st July 2008, an adult male Northern Bottlenose Whale (the same species that stranded in the Thames in 2006) stranded on mudflats at Langstone Harbour. Members of British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) were immediately mobilised including AlphaPet nurse Charlie Sampson VN and AlphaPet Practice Manager, Sarah Eglen VN. Charlie was tasked to coordinate the rescue attempt until a veterinary surgeon arrived.
The whale had been previously spotted during the previous couple of days close inshore at Bracklesham and Hayling Island.
Unfortunately, the 7.5m, 7 tonne animal was lying on its side in soft mud making it potentially very dangerous for rescue workers. A special team from Hampshire Fire Brigade provided specialist equipment, including inflatable platforms, to allow rescue workers to more safely get to the stranded animal.
AlphaPet and BDMLR vet, Richard Edwards, was called to attend and had to race across from the Isle of Wight where he had been diving the day before to take control of the rescue attempt.
On arriving at the scene it was immediately obvious that the working conditions were about as bad as they could be with rescuers sinking up to their wastes in thick mud on occasion with the whale lying some 80m offshore. In addition, there were over 200 sightseers on the bank and the media had soon got hold of the story sending camera teams, reporters and helicopters to the scene - none of which made the situation any easier although they did keep out of the way for most of the time. Unfortunately, a helicopter flew rather too close at one point and noticeably distressed the whale.
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A blood test kit was rushed from AlphaPet to the scene and Richard managed to get a blood sample which was then rushed back to AlphaPet for analysis. The results were then faxed to James Barnett MRCVS (a very experienced marine mammal vet) who sadly diagnosed anaemia and renal failure. By this time, Paul Jepson MRCVS and Rob DeVille MRCVS, from the Zoological Society of London had also arrived on site. A joint decision was made to euthanase the animal on humane grounds.
Unfortunately, the tide was coming in rapidly by this time and just as Richard was drawing up the lethal injection, with Charlie and Sarah close by, the whale started to thrash around in an attempt to free itself. This made it too dangerous to safely administer the injection and the attempt had to be abandoned.
Shortly after this, the whale, with the aid of floating pontoons which had been put in place, was able to struggle free of the mud but attempted to start swimming away from the deeper channels and back towards shallower water. Richard Edwards and another BDMLR rescuer attempted to turn the animal around using sit-on kayaks, but without success.
Luckily, the tide continued to come in and the animal eventually made it out to deeper water somehow managing to struggle across the concrete pillar of the old bridge at Langstone and moving into the Langstone Harbour proper.
BDMLR members aboard ribs and kayaks continued to monitor the whale from a distance for the next 3 hours, but then it dived and the rescuers were unable to locate it. However, at 5pm, the animal was reported to have re-stranded on a sand bank off the western tip of Hayling Island. A BDMLR team went to investigate and confirmed that it had re-stranded.
Richard Edwards, Paul Jepson, Rob DeVille and Charlie Sampson were the team that had the very sad task of attending the animal to administer a lethal injection to end any further suffering.
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AlphaPet News
Below is the latest copy of the AlphaPet Newsletter
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