Strandings of whales, dolphins, and seals are welfare emergencies requiring skilled response. Effective stranding networks balance individual animal welfare with conservation and biosafety considerations.
Stranding response is a welfare intervention with direct, immediate consequences for individual animals. The difference between rapid, skilled response and delayed or unskilled response can mean life or death for a stranded animal. It can also mean hours of preventable suffering. Training stranding network volunteers and ensuring adequate resources for 24-hour response saves lives and prevents suffering. For mass strandings of social species like pilot whales, the welfare mathematics become particularly complex when individuals refuse to leave stranded companions.