Dear colleagues, I am looking for some advice on succesful rescue dealings with stranded whales. A team of marine mammal researchers and conservationists are trying to update an existing national protocol for marine mammals strandings in Indonesia. Earlier we developed a protocol that provided guidelines to rescue smaller cetaceans whereas the last few years several cases of larger whale strandings occurred and ad-hoc methods were applied. The last case being the stranding of ten sperm whales earlier this month where 6 were released in deeper sea and four died. These whales were towed with rope attached to their flukes. Although these whales have not restranded we are concerned whether this is the correct way and may not have inflicted serious injuries to their flukes and perhaps result in less succesful dives. After this event our team was asked to prepare a stranding protocol for larger whales that are stranded alive and we would like to use best practices. Therefore we would very much welcome any proven best practices that we could adopt. Thank you very much, Kind regards, Danielle -- -------------------------- Danielle Kreb (Ph.D.) Scientific Program Advisor Yayasan Konservasi RASI Rare Aquatic Species of Indonesia Komplek Pandan Harum Indah (Erlyza) Blok C, No. 52 Samarinda 75124 Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia Tel/ fax: + 62.541.744874 Mobile: 081346489515 http://www.ykrasi.org Facebook group/page: Rare Aquatic Species of Indonesia Member of IUCN/SSC Cetacean Specialist Group *“To the dolphin alone, nature has given that which the best* *philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage. Though it has no* *need of help from any man, it is a genial friend to all and has helped mankind.”* *–Plutarch*