A major training exercise teaching volunteers how to rescue stranded whales is set to take place on a Kent beach.

Up to 50 volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) charity will be taking part in the exercise in Herne Bay tomorrow.

The aim is to test their skills in how to deal with a whale ‘mass stranding’ scenario.

It involves several life-size inflatable models of pilot whales so volunteers can rescue them in simulated conditions.

The exercise was set up in response to a rise in the number of mass strandings involving pilot whales in the UK in recent years.

Cetacean stranding, commonly known as beaching, is a phenomenon where whales and dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach.

One of the largest recorded incidents occurred in Falmouth Bay, Cornwall, when 40 common dolphins became stranded, in 2008.

Around half of the animals died while the rest were successfully refloated back to sea.

EBDMLR chief Dan Jarvis said the training in Herne Bay tomorrow will help hone volunteers’ abilities.

“These exercises are really important and useful to our volunteers for gaining experience, testing their first aid, assessment, rescue and communication skills.

“They are particularly important for our incident coordinators to take charge of organising everything from animal care to emergency services liaison to crowd and media control.

“They don’t happen too often as they’re a huge logistical challenge to set up, and of course we were unable to run them during the pandemic.”

There are a number of reasons why mass strandings can occur.

Sick or injured animals can inadvertently lead others ashore as they try to help it.

It can also happen when the animals become frightened by loud underwater noises such as sonar; or simply from becoming disoriented in unfamiliar intertidal or enclosed areas like estuaries and harbours.

Alex Levine, BDMLR’s area coordinator for the Kent region, commented: “I’m really looking forward to taking on this challenge and seeing how we perform not only as individuals, but working together as a team.

“This is one of the amazing things about this charity, in that as trained volunteers we can still essentially be strangers to one another, but when called upon in a real-life situation we come together to achieve what is best for these enigmatic creatures.”

Members of the public who find a live stranded dolphin or whale are asked to call BDMLR’s 24hr emergency hotline 01825 765546 immediately for urgent first aid advice and assistance.