When you think of Texas, you might picture oil fields and great expanses of land, but one of the most priceless things to me is the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network (TMMSN), which is responsible for the rescue and rehabilitation of Texas Gulf Coast marine mammals. A great thing about the TMMSN is that anyone can volunteer; you don’t need any experience, just a desire to be of help. The TMMSN routinely rescues and rehabilitates stranded whales and dolphins, but in August of 2007 there was a particularly moving event. The TMMSN rescued a mother and baby whale pair on the beach. The mother was very ill and didn’t make it past the first day, but her baby, dubbed “Moby,” held on a while and that little baby whale touched our hearts. It’s always difficult when the animals don’t recover, but there are also so many successes to celebrate, as stranded and injured animals are helped and then released back into the wild. The TMMSN is truly an organization of necessity and compassion.