SWRT have today launched an appeal to raise £7,000 to purchase and equip a marine mammal rescue trailer which will be based at Dundee and equipped with specialist equipment such as dry suits, life jackets, veterinary equipment, inflatable pontoons, generators, lighting, water pump etc which will allow us to provide a rapid professional response to a dolphin or whale stranding.

Please consider making a donation or organising a fundraiser to help us raise this £7,000 before the return of the Tay dolphins in 2012. Visit our web page, DolphinRescueSection to make a donation.

As Tayside’s only dedicated volunteer wildlife rescue service we currently operate our wildlife care unit and a fully equipped wildlife rescue ambulance.

Our aim is to heal every animal capable of surviving its injuries and return it back to its natural environment, while giving those who will not survive, a comfortable and dignified death.

Shanwell Wildlife Rescue Trust is operated by volunteers who do not receive payment for their services, our common commitment is for the welfare of wildlife and the environments in which they live.

Note from Gareth via facebook

“We have just returned from the dolphin rescue training at Broughty Ferry beach. It went very well and we managed to save the dolphin manikin again.

Thanks to Kevin, Barry, Lynn, Allan, Stewart for coming along, hope you all learned a lot. And thank you to Stephanie for the lovely shortbread..

As it was a nice day there were a large amount of people out walking and we generated a lot of interest and gave away numerous cards. We even had the RNLI inshore boat skirt by to see what was going on…

Next dolphin training session will be in March.”

If you are interested in the work of SWRT then please visit their webpage.

Upon arrival it was obvious that the seal was confused about which way to swim as the route to the sea now required it to go through shallow areas of the burn. It was continuously trying to haul out, but was unable to due to the steep sides of the burn at the golf course. With a little encouragement we were able to persuade the seal to head seawards and we followed at a distance so as not to stress the animal further.

Once the animal had made it past the shallows it seemed to get a clearer picture of where the sea was and it made good progress. Once at the sea it took off with no hesitation and was soon out of sight beyond the surf.

Many thanks to all concerned… The animal is now back where it belongs…:)

Full story: Courier

This sunday past saw a good number of them both in the river and at the mouth of the estuary as well as a little further north…

We have also had a number of reports via facebook of dolphins being seen in the surrounding waters…

Keep watching!!!