Our colleagues at Sea Shepherd France (SSF) recently reached out to BDMLR for advice and help with animal rescue training after some recent incidents in their home country. We were very happy to offer a bespoke two day course for nine of their team, plus two more from Apex Cetacea.
So earlier this month the Sea Shepherd France team were hosted at our Cornwall Seal Hospital (CSH) to undertake the training. Day one focused on cetacean response, with two morning lectures covering species identification, biology, ecology, health assessment, first aid, decision-making, response techniques, incident management and health and safety. In the afternoon the group went to the beach to be taught the practical elements of our training course with our life-sized dolphin and whale models, before being put through their paces in a stranding exercise to test their skills.
On day two the group returned to CSH to cover similar subjects to cetaceans in the seal lecture, followed by a tour around the hospital and introduction to the rehabilitation process. Later the group were taught seal capture techniques in a practical session using our seal pup model, followed by a lecture on out of habitat marine mammal management and finished up with a series of interactive case studies and discussion to test their knowledge from throughout the two days.
BDMLR will continue to support SSF as it continues to develop the team and collaborate with other organisations both in France and the UK. We would like to thank Lamya Essemlali (President, SSF) for creating this opportunity with Dan Jarvis (Director of Welfare and Conservation, BDMLR), Rebecca Boys (researcher, Whale Scientists), Laetitia Nunny (Scientific Consultant, Ocean Care) and local Medics Craig Ashley, Chris Webber and Alison Davey for instructing and support throughout the event.
We’re very pleased that we are able to offer and deliver these training opportunities to organisations abroad who approach us for training either by them visiting us or vice versa, which in the past has included teams in Italy, Canada, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Gibraltar, Kenya, Falkland Islands, Malta, Abu Dhabi and more to our growing list of international collaborations.
