Animal-rescue Professionals Launch an Association

A new association has launched to shore up the growing community of professionals who assist stranded marine mammals.

Last week, the National Marine Mammal Stranding Association (NMMSA), announced, is designed to support and unify the disparate volunteers and nonprofit groups in the United States that work to rescue creatures like seals, dolphins and whales. Standards around that work are set by a federal agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But Katie Moore, senior director of animal rescue at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and a member of the NMMSA steering committee, said smaller nonprofits in the space have looked for additional support.

"There's only so much a federal agency can do," Moore said. "They provide a lot of guidance and have sets of best practices. But the stranding networks are mostly nonprofits or nonprofit arms of universities or aquariums. They are almost always very small with a lot of grassroots volunteers."

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