We are pleased to share our recently published article titled "From Monitoring to Final Disposition: Collaborative Response to the First Live Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) Stranding in Alabama, USA", which is now published in the journal Aquatic Mammals.
Bloodgood, J.C.G., M.L. Russell, C. D. Clark, E.E. Hieb, D. P. Mooe, T.R. Madgrigal, S. Carmichael, and R. H. Carmichael. From Monitoring to Final Disposition: Collaborative Response to the First Live Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) Stranding in Alabama, USA. Aquatic Mammals, 48(6), 485-494, DOI 10.1578/AM.48.6.2022.485.
Summary: This paper details the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network's response, from
initial report to final disposition, for the first documented live sperm whale stranding in Alabama.
The animal stranded out of habitat inside Mobile
Bay. We
highlight the challenges and successful aspects
of the response, including multi-day live-animal
monitoring, in-water sedation and euthanasia,
transport, field necropsy, personnel safety, and the importance of interagency collaboration throughout the process. For the sedation and euthanasia
phase of response, we provide detailed doses and
times of drug delivery, animal response, and time
to death. Our findings will benefit other stranding
networks by informing best practices for coordinating large whale stranding response, particularly in areas where these strandings are rare and
resources may be limited.