Wednesday, April 28, 2010

HMSRTO Volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center

Aloha Blog Lady,
I had a request to share some pictures of my trip to the Marine Mammal Center with the blog. It was a very interesting and fun experience.

There were plenty of elephant seals, harbor seals, and sea lions to learn from. We did a lot of boarding, dishes, cleaning, hand/tube feeding, sorting fish and restraining, oh and did I mention DISHES!!! With all those hungry mouths come lots of dirty dishes.

I spent two days with the harbor seals,two and a half days with the elephant seals, one day on a release, and half a day with the vet, Dr. Bill. My favorite experience was my time with Dr. Bill. As a nurse, I was very interested in the medical and physical aspects of caring for the seals. I had my hopes on seeing a surgery but they didn't have any during my time there. However one of the harbor seals died and on my last day I got to see the necropsy. This was one of the highlights of my trip. (Its not morbid, I was very interested in the anatomy.) The elephant seals were the best. They are so curious. Always watching to see what you are doing or trying to get a better view of what is going on.

I am very grateful for the privilege to go over to CA and have this experience. The people were very nice and taught me a lot. Thank you TMMC and HMSRTO for the wonderful experience.
Stacey

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

so who paid for this trip?

Anonymous said...

I ask because it looks like fun, where do I sign up? :)

Donna said...

These volunteers were selected as part of their ongoing committment and work the Hawaiian monk seals.

The Hawaiian Monk Seal Response Team Oahu (HMSRTO) a non profit 501c3 organization paid for a group of volunteers to attend the Marine Mammal Center.

It is a wonderful opportunity.... I have a question... who are you?

Hawaii Stella's said...

Yes it was fun. Join us.