How to assess a beached whale's welfare

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-10-12 10:01

New Zealand

Image by Fr. Daniel Ciucci on UnSplash

A survey of international experts conducted by researchers at Massey University aims to help researchers develop guidelines for assessing the welfare of stranded whales and dolphins. Authors say that the welfare of these animals is inextricably linked to their survival, so such guidelines are needed to inform difficult decisions about whether these marine mammals should be refloated, rehabilitated, euthanised, or put into palliative care. Potential welfare indicators include body and skin condition, signs of physical trauma and respiration rate, which could be assessed remotely via video when experts aren’t present at stranding sites.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Animal whale-fare - This study provides the first practical indicators for assessing welfare and likelihood of survival in stranded cetaceans. Questionnaires completed by international and interdisciplinary experts found indicators for assessing welfare and survival likelihood at strandings included: body and skin condition, signs of physical trauma and respiration rate. Due to climate change and human disturbance, cetacean stranding events are predicted to increase globally, and management decisions should be informed by survival post-refloating and animal welfare status.

Journal/
conference: Royal Society Open Science

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Massey University

Funder: This manuscript is part of the Ph.D. research of Rebecca M Boys. Rebecca M Boys was supported by an Association of Commonwealth Universities Doctoral Scholarship, K.A.S. was supported by a Royal Society Te Apārangi New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (2019–2024). The research was additionally supported by Animal Ethics Inc. Research Grant USA, Wildbase Research Trust Fund New Zealand, New Zealand Veterinary Association Marion Cunningham Memorial Fund Grant and Animal Behaviour Society Amy R Samuels Grant USA. The funders had no involvement in study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation, or in the writing of the article.

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