First animal sampled!

Yesterday we were notified a harbor porpoise calf (< 1 year of age) stranded dead in Edmonds, 20 miles north of Seattle. We necropsied it today and discovered some lung lesions, which we commonly find in stranded marine mammals. A sterile swab of one of the lesions, as well as inside the large intestine, were taken and will be submitted to Phoenix Laboratory for culture and antibiotic sensitivity. We will post results when they are back in ~7-10 days. Thank you to Rachel and her crew with Sno-King Marine Mammal Response for notifying us this animal washed ashore and to all the donors who helped get this project up and running!

 

One of two culture swabs taken from the harbor porpouse calf.

 

Close-up of swab types in culture transport media.