How wildlife responders manage welfare during marine mammal strandings, including euthanasia decision frameworks.
Marine mammal strandings present some of the most acute welfare challenges in wildlife response. Large cetaceans lying out of water suffer rapidly from compression of internal organs, overheating, and dehydration. The welfare calculus is often brutal: animals with severe injuries or illness may suffer greatly through heroic rehabilitation attempts with poor survival prospects. Modern stranding response increasingly applies explicit welfare assessment frameworks that ask not just "can we save this animal" but "what outcome is best for this animal." Prompt, humane euthanasia when prognosis is poor is a critical welfare intervention, not a failure.