Can you imagine a sea lion taking part in the rescue work on a shipwreck in the middle of the ocean? This is the original proposal of the Oceanographic of the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia, which aims to evaluate the capacity of these animals for maritime rescue tasks.
The idea is to take advantage of the extraordinary visual and auditory abilities of these friendly mammals to collaborate in open water rescue tasks. Furthermore, sea lions are adept at locating difficult objects, they can maneuver relatively easily in tight spaces and make repeated dives in deep water without decompression. All this makes them the ideal helpers for rescue tasks ranging from the search for submerged corpses to the approach of life-saving floats or the recovery of objects in the water.
The training of animals is carried out from their birth, since it is essential that from a very young age they get used to frequent contact with many different people and objects. When the hatchlings are weaned and start to eat fish, specific training for rescue tasks begins: locating hidden objects in the tank, putting on a harness or transporting a lifeline such as a rope or float to a victim.
The intention of the Oceanographic is to be able to develop this idea, a pioneer in Europe, contributing its experience in the study and work with marine animals to possible promoters and collaborators in the project.
(Photo: Oceanographic Institute of Valencia)
