Cetacean and pinniped strandings are welfare emergencies requiring coordinated responses. Evidence-based protocols for assessment, triage, and rehabilitation have improved outcomes for stranded marine mammals significantly.
Marine mammal strandings create urgent welfare situations requiring immediate, coordinated professional response. Stranded cetaceans — dolphins, porpoises, and whales — suffer from dehydration, thermal stress, positional myopathy (from lying unsupported), and often the underlying conditions that caused stranding. The welfare response requires trained professionals: inappropriate public intervention often causes additional injury and stress. Pinniped strandings (seals, sea lions) are frequently managed successfully by rehabilitation, with healthy juveniles often recoverable. The scale of strandings linked to human causes — bycatch, acoustic trauma, vessel strikes — underscores the welfare importance of addressing these root causes.