May 07, 2008
Urgent Need: Mini-Excavator, Track-Hoe, Backhoe, or Tractor with Bucket Attachment
In March of 2007 and March of 2008 the TMMSN recovered the bodies of around 200 dolphins
in those two months alone. After thoroughly examining each dolphin
and collecting the samples required for our UME protocol, each dolphin was buried by hand using shovels.
This is done to prevent public tampering
with the dolphin carcass in line with the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 which makes it a crime for anyone to remove bones
or other parts from these protected animals. Other benefits of burying the dolphin carcasses include a reduction in redundant
calls to our 24-Hr pager line for strandings for which the TMMSN has already responded, as well as limiting the potential spread
of disease on beaches in Galveston and other areas frequented by tourists, including children.
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In order for a dolphin to stay buried on the beach (so that the water and wind does not uncover it), it must be placed in a "grave"
of sufficient size. For an adult Bottlenose, this means we must dig a hole approximately 10 feet long, by 3 feet wide, by 4-5
feet deep. In some cases there are only 2-3 people present to recover the animal, and in most cases, animal recoveries are made with
only 1 - 2 people present, making the digging of a 8' X 3' X
5' hole
a back-breaking task--especially when several graves or a MASS grave double or triple the size of a standard 8' X 3' X
5' hole
must be dug by one person in a single day.
Some suggestions have been made for truck-mounted backhoes
or small home-type digging machines but these machines do not meet our power and durability needs.
A truck-mounted backhoe is also logistically awkward when
installed in our trucks that are used for other educational
fund-raising activities, as well as live-animal rescue. It has also been suggested that we rent the digging machine
as we need it. However, the unpredictable nature of our work and the speedy response that
we try to maintain makes renting a machine as we would need it impractical.
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The machine we need to procure must be small enough to haul on a 12' - 16' trailer, and it needs to either be 4-wheel
drive or have tracks. It needs to be in good working order, but does not need to be new.
Used mini-excavators like the examples you will find by following the links below can be purchased for around
$10,000 - $15,000. This is outside
the limited budget for the TMMSN but it has become a necessity for our
increased dead dolphin recovery work. Please help us spread the word about this urgent
need. If you know of anyone working in construction or industrial trades for large companies that would otherwise auction off their
used equipment, or would be interested in donating all or a portion of the cost of used equipment please talk to them. We need
your help.
The less time we can spend breaking our backs digging holes, the more time we can spend on investigation and research into the dolphin
deaths of the past two years. All you volunteers that have helped dig numerous dolphin graves the past couple of years can attest to this!
Please feel free to give our contact information to any persons or companies interested in helping us with this.
Thank you for your support!
Please contact Errol Ronje with any questions.
Office: 409-741-4320
Email: eronje@gmail.com
Links to examples of the type of mini-excavator we need:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4