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Noble Charge or Lost Cause? Rescuing Oiled Birds

When a dry-docked tanker spilled at least 8,000 gallons of black petroleum in the Bay this October, bird rescue crews mobilized - preparing to flush toxins from seabird innards and cleanse oil-slicked feathers. But a new study tracking oiled pelicans after rescue and release has found that surprisingly few survived, raising questions about whether all the painstaking effort and resources devoted to rescue might be better spent on other wildlife projects.

So what exactly does all this painstaking effort involve? According to Jay Holcomb of Berkeley's International Bird Rescue and Research Center, the first thing rescuers do is try to flush a victim's system with fluids. Center staff may then give birds activated charcoal to help leach out any toxins they have ingested from preening oil-coated feathers. "We only wash the birds rightaway if they are stable, if they are too depressed, they can't take the stress," says Holcomb. "This past spill we had three gulls so heavily coated they were literally stuck to the bottoms of their cages, and obviously we had to wash them immediately."

In addition, staff perform a thorough examination of each bird, and document its condition with photos and notes. They also take blood tests to see whether birds have become anemic from chemicals in the oil, treat injuries related to being trapped in the oil, and sample feathers to help trace the oil back to its source.

The actual washing of the birds is not as simple as it might sound either. "We have a long table set up with 5-15 pans of hot water mixed with three percent detergent," explains the Center's Sharla Ansorge. "We start with the head and neck and then move to the belly and wings, with one person holding-pelicans take two-and one washing. We keep on going from one pan to another until the water comes out completely clear. Then we rinse the birds in the sink for 10-15 minutes, using a special high-pressure nozzle and sometimes a Water Pik. We use toothbrushes on the head feathers. We have to make sure there is no soap residue left since it destroys the water-proofing quality of their feathers just like oil does."

After being rinsed, staff check the birds for lingering wet spots (a sign that their feathers may not yet be oil-free) and put them under pet dryers. Drying a bird takes between 45 minutes and three hours, with constant checking to make sure birds aren't overheating. The work is stressful not only to the birds but to the staff and volunteers as well. "We work 13-hour days without stopping during a spill," says Ansorge.

Despite these kinds of extraordinary efforts, recently-published studies by U.C. Davis biologist Dan Anderson bring into question the survival rate of rehabilitated birds. In 1990-91, Anderson radio-tagged pelicans rehabbed after two oil spills. After following the birds for six months, he concluded that only about half were still alive. The rest had disappeared.

Anderson, who has studied pelicans for over 25 years and knows "every inch" of their range, was unable to find the remaining tagged birds anywhere between northern California and southwestern Mexico. He did find some of the transmitters still attached to their harnesses, however, leading him to conclude that the birds had died and their bodies decomposed. From the pattern of retrieval of the bodies he did find, Anderson believes some rehabbed birds die soon after release while others succumb later from chronic problems caused by ingested toxins.

"We've always known that not all victims of oil spills make it," says the rescue center's Holcomb. "But we don't agree that if a bird is unaccounted for it is necessarily dead."

Dave Jessup, a veterinarian with Cal Fish & Game, agrees with Anderson that oiled birds may not survive as well as others but doesn't think the pelican study represents all spills and all rehabbed birds. He also points out that, particularly with an endangered species like the brown pelican, saving individual birds can be very important, whatever it takes.

Even if the birds aren't endangered, many such as Jessup feel we have a moral obligation - as the perpetrators of spills and other environmental problems - to help oiled wildlife. Others feel all that the rescue and rehab money would be better spent on wildlife habitat or population restoration projects. They think oiled birds should simply be euthanized, counted as "losses" from a spill, and included as part of the financial damages spillers have to pay.

"These birds are legal evidence we are required to document," says Jessup. "So it's not a question or whether we are going to pick them up, it's a question of whether we are going to pick them up and euthanized (because they probably won't make it anyway), count them or pick them up and try to help them."

Contact: Dan Anderson (916)752-2108; Jay Holcomb (510)841-9086 or Dave Jessup (916)326-0277

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