When a whale, dolphin or seal washes onto the beach, a turtle is cold-stranded, or any other possible animal rescue situations arise, the place to turn to is the Animal Rescue Program at the Mystic Aquarium. That program is always looking for people to help out, lend a hand and volunteer.
The team at Proterial Cable America High-Performance Defense Solutions (PCA-HPDS) and High-Performance Medical Solutions (PCA-HPMS) have embraced the program over the last few years and our company now has a considerable number of volunteers at the aquarium.
“It’s been nice to have a little sub team,” says Sarah Callan, manager of the Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Program. “It’s great to see them bounce ideas off one another, and it’s been great to work with everyone.”
Bob Chenal, Sales and Program Manager for PCA-HPDS, believes in volunteering. On Sep. 20, 2001, as a freshman in college, he signed up for the marine core. He served in the marines until 2009. 
“Everyone should experience humility and hardship at some point in life, and volunteering—anywhere—brings those moments,” he says. “It challenges us, fosters growth, and ultimately makes us better humans.”
He moved to Connecticut and started with PCA after he left the marines. Then, after the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarah Callan says she was trying to get volunteers together, and she knew Bob, and thought he would be interested.
“Bob has been with the program for years now,” Callan says. “He is such a great guy—a give you the shirt off his back sort of person.”
Chenal and his wife Emma have been volunteering with the program ever since.
After Chenal began volunteering at the aquarium, he encouraged other team members of PCA-HPDS and PCA-HPMS to help. The group grew and grew with family members joining as well.
“It’s enjoyable to volunteer with my coworkers,” says Christine Keough, a Process Engineer at PCA-HPMS who also volunteers at the aquarium. “I consider many of them to be friends, so it is always fun to do things together outside of work.”
Keough joined over a year and a half ago and participates with outreach efforts like beach cleanups, increasing awareness and responding to stranded seals or sea turtles.
According to Chenal, word of mouth was the key to the increase in PCA volunteers.
“It’s an awesome program, and anytime I meet someone interested, I encourage them to take the class,” he says referring to training to be a volunteer.
Chenal says he thinks getting dedicated people like Keough together is important not only for the aquarium, but for the workforce at PCA.
“It builds community, and I believe that’s essential—not just for individuals, but for companies,” he says.
Working alongside the aquarium, the animal rescue program helps injured, stranded or sick animals to rehabilitate and ultimately return to the wild where they belong.
Callan says that the program is centered at the aquarium, but kept distinctly separate, so as to prevent animals at the aquarium from catching any potential sicknesses.
“We try to limit our contact with the animals because we want them to be released and we don’t want them to be too used to people,” she says. “We only come in contact with them when giving treatments.”
She says the job can be fun and rewarding, seeing the process of a critical stage animal recover, and be released, but that when things don’t turn out well it can be an emotional roller-coaster.
Callan says that the PCA team primarily works as volunteer first responders when a call comes in.
“They go into the field if we get a call on the 24-hour-hotline,” Callan says. “First responders are like our eyes out in the field, and our coverage area is wide-ranging, covering all of Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as out to Block Island, RI and Fishers Island in New York.”
Callan says the volunteers take pictures and videos of the animal in question and determine if it needs to come to the aquarium or if they need to be responded to in the field. She says there are also a lot of sad situations, where volunteers need to respond regarding dead animals.
Chenal says most of the volunteers respond to stranded seals or sea turtles, helping keep the public at a safe distance, but his role in particular is a little different.
“I usually get the call when there’s a stranded dolphin or whale, which often means handling necropsies for animals that didn’t survive,” he says.
Callan says necropsies, which are examinations of animals after death to determine cause of death or spread of disease, are vital for the aquarium and the animal rescue program.
“We conduct necropsies if the animal is stranded and deceased because it’s very important, we find out the cause of death,” she says.
PCA-HPMS and PCA-HPDS are always looking for people to come work with us in our Ashaway, Rhode Island facility.
Contact us today and see how you can become a part of the team with Bob Chenal and Christine Keough.
