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Roundstone News Monday 21st November 2010
Things have now gone very quite in the village, apart from the weekends, with various events this weekend, such as The Huston School of film (NUIG) and Folding Landscapes presented “A boatload of Wild Irishmen”, this was a film about Robert Flaherty, who was the director of Man of Arran, this was shown in the Community Hall and was very well attended. Then congratulations to David McDonagh who celebrated his 21st Birthday in the Shamrock Bar on Saturday, also to Joseph Conneelly, Ann’s Son who celebrated his birthday yesterday Sunday. Also on the Sunday there was a Dressage Competition up on the Roundstone Show ground which was organized by Judy Casbure from Cleggan, with her class, its nice to see the show grounds being made use of more different events. I don’t have the results I am sure Ann next Monday will give them out.
The Whale and Dolphin Rescue Pontoon Training:
Unfortunately I could not stay for the day, however I asked Lorna if she would just give me a run down of the day for tonight’s broadcast, typical Lorn’s every detail has to be shown, its very well written, but unfortunately, time will not permit me to go right through in detail on air, however here is a summary, and of course the full explanation so to speak will go on to the website in a day or two and hopefully into sadly the last edition of the Connemara View.
Everybody gathered at the Roundstone Community Hall at 10am for the first part of the Live Stranding Course, which was being taught to us by Dr. Simon Berrow from IWDG (Irish Whale and Dolphin Group), along with his colleague, Connor Ryan. The course was divided into 2 parts, first: Theory with Video which included many subjects like, when discovering a live stranded whale or dolphin: Cetacean identification, (also where it may have came from) examination/diagnosis, assessing the situation, appointing beach masters, who to notify and deciding on whether to refloat the animal or euthanasia/let it die naturally. (Sometimes we think the best thing to do when we find a live stranded animal is to get it back to the water but most of the time, there are specific reasons why the animal has beached, and sometimes it is because it is sick/injured and it wants to die. The best thing to do in this situation, if you can't euthanize (if it is too big an animal), is to leave it in peace NOT pester it and let kids and dogs climb all over it etc
This went very well, with the forever animated and enthusiastic Simon, getting us all into the swing of things with his amazing plethora of facts and figures, interesting videos and anecdotes of his experiences of helping whales/dolphins throughout Ireland over the years..
I'll list out who was there now: Lorna Hill, Lynn Hill, Ronan Creane, Kevin Mallett, Dorothy Cross, Nigel Davis, Gilbert McWilliams, Daithi Maguire, 2 visitors to the area: Cisco and son Rafael from New Mexico!, 3 Roundstone youth - Martina Conneelly’s two sons and Joe and Mary Mongan’s sons with Simon Berrow and Connor Ryan plus 2 trusty steeds and a few members of the Galway Dive Club: Paul Holland, Terry and Jimmy -
We then had a break for lunch which included a trip to O’Dowd’s for some sandwiches and tea to get us going for our afternoon dip in the sea!
2nd part of the course: Pontoon Practice!
By 1.30pm we were at the beach, trousers rolled up and in the sea with us, all trying to complete the hardest mission of the day - blowing up the whale and dolphin! Now before you go reporting us to the ISPCA, these were an inflatable whale and dolphin, 2 props that Simon uses when teaching the course! They got filled with water (so we had an idea of the weight we'd be dealing with) The guys from the Galway Dive Club got to work pumping up the pontoon with air and then we were good to go! Some got into wetsuits, some got their feet wet and some decided it would be safer if they stayed dry and would be a lot more helpful shouting orders from the beach!
Procedure: (this is of course, after you've reported it to IWDG!) Firstly - appoint a beach master, this persons job would be to keep all dogs, adults and children extremely quiet and AWAY from the animal. Then making sure the animal is as comfortable as possible, dig little holes beneath the pectoral fins so they don't get squished in the sand... keep it as cool as possible by pouring water onto is as often as possible AVOIDING the blowhole (if poss., place a towel onto it's back and keep damp). If you watch the blowhole for breathing a dolphin normally breath is 2-5 breaths per minute, any higher indicates stress, whales are a lot longer- normal breath can be 1 breath/min for small whales, large whales are 1 breath every 20 minutes!
One thing that was mentioned at the training, which has been done in the past and is one of the WORST things people do is to tie a rope around its tail and try to drag it back into the sea. This damages the animal so much, the only thing left to do is to put it down.
So after you've assessed the animal and the decision has been made (if poss with IWDG/vet/both) and you decide the animal is healthy enough to refloat, get out the pontoon!
The putting together of the pontoon, around the animal, is quite straightforward, making sure that voices are kept calm and best not to rub the animal, like we do pets as this can stress them out even more. Another IMPORTANT thing to note here is to keep clear of the tail, especially if it's a large whale, a smack from that can really damage you, or the animal! Also try not to stand above the blowhole, the air can rush out quite fast and as they are mammals, like us, their germs can affect us too!
When the tide is in, gently pull the pontoon with animal into the sea and turn around so they're facing the sea. While they are still in the pontoon, try rocking them very gently to get circulation moving again as they've been sitting on a beach for the last while. They won't take off straight away; they may need even up to half an hour to get orientated. When they feel ready, try and take it out as far as possible and if needs be, let the air out of the pontoon and let the animal gently glide away. Hopefully they'll swim back out to sea and find their group again.
>Sometimes it has been known for the same animal to be found beached again the next day a little further away. This can be frustrating and can often mean so many different things; I think decisions made from here should definitely come from the experts!
The day was ended on a high when a photographer, Joe O’ Shaughnassey from Irish Times came out and took some pictures! Everyone was also awarded with a certificate which we proudly held up for the cameras! Numbers were also swapped so everyone knew who to contact in the event of a live stranding. The main ones being, IWDG, Galway Aquarium (where the pontoon will live), Galway Dive Club and the group of freshly trained pontooners, who ranged from various different places in Connemara.
Connemara View:
I would really like to thank Catherine Price and Ellen Mc Donagh for the wonderful contribution they have given to Connemara with their news paper over the last few years, it was very informative, colorful and more importantly , it was a way of keeping in touch as to what is and was around us with the news from our neighboring villages. This link will be a sad loss, but thank you both for your hard working efforts and we wish you all the best for the future
Beach Clean up:
We will be having a beach Clean up on Dogs Bay 2.30pm Sunday 28th November, we really do need as many volunteers as possible, because after the last few storms, there is a fair bit of rubbish, mind you a lot has been bagged already, and I can not expect the young kids who have volunteered to give me a hand to carry these heavy bags, adults are needed, we also need some form of Transport to take the bags from the beach to the Dogs Bay Car park to await collection. Bags and Gloves will be supplied, naturally, if it is lashing, we will try for another day, and to have this clear up will protect our green award, which could be so easily taken off us.
The West of Ireland Talent Show:
Now for some thing completely different:
Just to congratulate Don Don Stiff, who has played and sang with his guitar many times in Roundstone in the Community Hall and the pubs he is now among the 8 finalists, for the west of Ireland all Ireland Talent Show, just to wish him luck for next Sunday’s show, one of the ambassadors for the West
And while we are at it well done to Patrick Kearny from Doohalla who invited as a guest the daughter of the O’Donnell family to appear on Winning streak last Saturday, Patrick came home with €34,700 and a holiday, good stuff Patrick, perhaps you might give me the holiday and you can keep the cash. Gosh I remember when Deidre King was on Winning streak, and I also went as a guest, I am sure Martins daughter was more restrained than I was, anyway that’s a nice one in Irelands troubled times and a nice bonus for Christmas.
Roundstone Youth Club:
Unfortunately we will not be able to have a regular youth club this year, as we don’t have the numbers to affiliate with Faróige, plus the lack of funding, however with the few we have, we still I hope this will not stop us from going to our twinned village in France next year, actually its great, some of the younger kids who are not eligible for the youth club are very enthusiastic in helping community efforts in one form or another, so for this year perhaps we will work with them in preparation for their enrolment to the club in the future, it’s the sign of the times, but we wont forget the kids.
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