Rangers rescue stranded Beauly Firth porpoise
A porpoise stranded near the entrance to the Caledonian Canal in Inverness has been rescued by trainee countryside rangers.
The trainees from the world-renowned Aigas Field Centre near Beauly were looking for otters at 6am today when they came across the metre-long harbour porpoise stranded well up the beach on the Beauly Firth.
Duncan McNeill, the Aigas programme manager, spotted the animal partially buried in kelp and immediately realised it was alive.
It had some superficial cuts and seemed weak. The six rangers kept the animal wet with sea water while the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was called.
However, the decision was quickly made to carry the tiny cetacean back to the sea.
"We slung it in a waterproof jacket and partially submerged it in shallow water in the hope that it would recover strength and morale while still under our control," explained Aigas general manager, Warwick Lister-Kaye.
"The plan seemed to work. Within a couple of minutes it was flexing its tail up and down much more vigorously that when we had found it. We took the decision to release it and it swam away strongly with a few pulses of its tail. It was a great moment."
Countryside Rangers at Aigas Field Centre receive six weeks of formal vocational training before delivering educational wildlife holidays to visitors from all over the world. Last year, the centre was awarded Scotland’s Best Nature Based Experience by Visit Scotland.
* Photograph by Simon Gray.
