Medical training for Sea Lions
On the November 14th 2008, Nausicaa was awarded 1st prize for sea lion medical training at the annual IMATA (International Marine Animal Trainers Association) conference which was held in CANCUN in Mexico. This Award was in recognition of Nausicaa’s training work with these marine mammals and, in particular, for its intubation and endoscopy training with California sea lions. Voluntary intubation is a world first and avoids the need to anaesthetise the animals. This success is the product of trust building work between carer and sea lion over a number of years.
IMATA rewards Nausicaa
Nausicaa was represented at the 36th annual International Marine Animal Trainers Association (IMATA) conference by William GOURNAY, Nausicaa’s sea lion team trainer.
This conference brings together directors, veterinary surgeons, scientists, sea park trainers, aquariums, zoos and research laboratories from all around the world which are involved in public outreach activities or research on marine mammals (killer whales, dolphins, belugas, sea lions, manatees, seals and otters). Over 8 days in Cancun, Mexico, they presented their activities, shared notes and put in place new joint projects.
As each year, IMATA rewards the most innovative work presented at the conference in a symbolic and purposeful way. This time it was the turn of Nausicaa’s entire sea lion team and their supervising veterinary surgeon, Géraldine LACAVE, for their contribution to the medical supervision of marine animals.
Over fifty presentations were made at the conference. They focused on technical work on the training of dolphins, belugas and sea lions; on the rehabilitation and release of sick animals; on new treatments and surgical techniques; on the monitoring of births and newborn animals and on improving living conditions for animals. There were more than 500 delegates from all over the world, from North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
Voluntary intubation and endoscopy
The sea lions have been at Nausicaa now for 10 years and have been trained to work with carers to facilitate their medical care.
Intubation and endoscopy are medical procedures which can be used to rehydrate a sick animal, or to look into the stomach to see if a foreign object has been ingested, for example. For an untrained animal a procedure requiring the insertion of a tube into the stomach via the mouth would require a general anaesthesia, which can pose a risk to the animal. At Nausicaa it was therefore decided to opt for voluntary training to prepare the animals in case such a procedure should be necessary. It required great patience but the sea lions did learn to cooperate and allow a tube to be inserted. Such an achievement, which requires perfect command of the procedure and total cooperation from the sea lion, was only possible after several years of work. Today, at Nausicaa we are able to insert, using a tube, a litre of water directly into the stomach of each of our sea lions.
At the end of October a voluntary endoscopy was carried out on two of Nausicaa’s sea lions, which allowed us to visualise the inside of their stomachs using a mini-camera on an endoscopic tube.
Nausicaa’s IMATA (International Marine Animal Trainers Association) presentation will enable a number of European, American and Asian institutions to introduce the same training for their own sea lions.
