Some 70 people had hands-on experience on how to deal with beached whales during a demonstration by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group in Ballybunion Co, Kerry, this weekend.
The demonstration was at the request of the Ballybunion Sea and Cliff Rescue Group after 40 pilot whales were stranded at Aughacasla Strand, between Castlegregory and Tralee, in March of last year.
Dr Simon Berrow, chairman of the whale and dolphin group, said live strandings of whales and dolphins were not more numerous today, but they were more noticed, and certainly more recorded, in recent years.
The Kerry incident had been one of the biggest mass strandings on the west coast since that of 63 pilot whales in 1965, also in west Kerry.
The demonstration yesterday included a simulated rescue of a rubber whale - inflated with water and weighing two tonnes - on the Ladies' Beach at Ballybunion. Mass strandings were "very hard", Dr Berrow said. People wanted to do all they could to refloat the whales.
Some species, such as harbour porpoises, came in to die. This was true of other species, too, and pulling them back out to sea only increased their trauma.
The white-sided dolphin, the common dolphin and the pilot whale were the three off-shore species most likely to strand in Ireland. Pilot whales were extremely social, and mass strandings generally resulted when they followed ashore a sick member of the school.
Dr Berrow said it was important to identify the sick animal, and the best course of action was to put it down. Otherwise, the whales would continue to come ashore, he told his audience, which included vets, Dúchas representatives, rescue groups and the general public.
Noise levels around beached whales should be kept down, and dogs kept away, he said.
A beached whale lay on its flippers. To prevent crushing of the flippers, he advised people to dig underneath them.
On no account should a whale be pulled by its tail backwards in order to refloat it, as sometimes happened, as this only stressed them and could lead to injury.
Cooling them down with water and keeping them moist with wet blankets was vital to reduce over-heating and to stop the skin cracking.
The whale or dolphin must also be stabilised in shallow water before re-floating until its breathing returned to normal.