On August 14 1999, the country's first ever mass stranding exercise was held by BDMLR at Nairn, near. Inverness, with 4 model pilot whales and a model dolphin (simulating a baby pilot whale) standing in for the real thing. All those taking part - the CRRU, SSPCA officers, staff from the Skye Environmental Centre and BDMLR volunteers - had previously completed the BDMLR's ever-popular public Marine Mammal Medic course.

More than 50 people from as far away as London attended this exercise. Eight large inflatable pontoons - there are currently 15 in the country - were on hand to get the model whales out to sea when the tide came in.

For this advanced lesson in whale rescue, one of the more difficult tasks attempted was to lift one of the models off of another without damaging either - or any of the rescuers.

Rescuing stranded whales is not an easy task. Dressed in dry-suits, the teams simulate keeping the animals calm and moist until they have recovered enough to be refloated. In a real situation, some whale-side vigils have been known to last for 3 days!

If you think a model is a poor substitute for the real thing, think again. Not only do these creatures look so real that people often rush up to help during training exercises such as this, but they also weigh as much as an average 5 metre pilot whale - a gargantuan 2 tonnes in weight! Rocking the model for hours at a time and manoeuvring it onto a stretcher, which is then attached to the inflatable pontoon, is no easy task!

This first exercise was met with so much enthusiasm and success from participating volunteers that a unanimous decision was made to hold more of these events in following years. The second ever exercise was subsequently held on 22nd July 2001 on Aberdeen Beach Front. The simulations are undoubtedly the closest one can get to a live incident, requiring team work and co-ordination like no other situation.

No-one is really sure why these animals strand and there are as many theories as there are strandings. Often the mammals are sick or injured and may go to the beach to die. There is growing concern, however, that the increasing number of strandings in Scotland may be linked to seismic exploration activities and explosions from underwater drilling operations in the North Sea.

To read more about these activities, please select the following links:

Auditory barotrauma in cetaceans - a link to strandings?

Seismic survey observation work