South Jersey Highlights is a series of profiles on local environmental groups, advocates, clubs and natural sites. You can read all of the articles in the series. If you’d like to have your organization profiled, you can contact us.
Unfortunately, the coasts of New Jersey is no stranger to injured and beached animals.
In mid-October, a humpback whale was found stranded off the southern tip of Long Beach Island. The whale had substantial injuries from what looked to be a propeller.
To minimize the whale’s suffering, the first people to respond to the situation, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC), decided to ethically euthanize the animal.
The MMSC specializes in the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of marine mammals and other sea creatures in distress in New Jersey.
In fact, they are “the only federally-authorized rescue, rehabilitation, and release facility for marine mammals and the authorized first responders for sea turtle strandings and disentanglements in New Jersey,” according to their website.
The MMSC was founded in 1978 by Roberto Schoelkopf. He was inspired to start the organization two years prior, after being called as an expert to assist in the rescue of a stranded pygmy sperm whale in front of the Atlantic City convention hall.
After its rescue, the whale was given intensive 24/7 care by Schoelkopf, but despite the efforts, the whale passed away three days later. Shoelkopf founded the MMSC in order to help other animals in need so that they may avoid the same fate.
The MMSC continues Schoelkopf’s work by having a 24-hour hotline that can be called to report animal strandings. When an animal is saved, the rehabilitation is documented and posted to their various outlets.
The organization is currently working towards the rehabilitation of a grey seal that was discovered injured on a Brigantine beach on April 3rd. Since then, the MMSC website has been updated multiple times to record and report the seal’s progress toward rehabilitation. An update in July reported that, through radiography, it had been discovered that one of his flippers was possibly crushed. A September update revealed great improvement. The seal was entered into physical therapy in the rehabilitation pool, until his next check-up.
In order to fund their operations and the continued operation of the organization as a whole, MMSC offers a variety of merchandise and products.
On their website, there is a shop section where they sell a variety of products, from clothing items with MMSC’s logo printed on the front, limited edition mugs, and even sea animal “adoption” packages.
These packages allow the buyer to pay money to “adopt” an animal from their list of recently released animals. With purchase, customers receive a photo of the animal, a custom adoption certificate, and a biography of the seal’s journey back to its home. Depending on the package purchased, customers can even receive a stuffed representation of their animals and an MMSC mug to go along with it.
The website also offers a memorial wall where people can pay $50 to have a family member memorialized on their webpage with their name, picture, and a small paragraph about them.
For its Fall hours, MMSC’s sea life museum will be open from 2 – 6pm on Saturdays. The sea life museum is an educational experience where attendees can learn about different sea life, make purchases at the gift shop, or even see a live feed of the MMSC’s current patients.
