Birds Get Emergency Care After Bay Area Oil Spill

[Donna]

 

CORDELIA, CA- An oil spill Friday in San Francisco Bay has left an untold number of birds coated in oil. So far, 35 birds have been brought for cleaning to the International Bird Rescue Research Center near Cordelia.

On Friday, the Coast Guard reported up to 800 gallons of toxic bunker oil spilled as a ship was refueling about 2 1/2 miles south of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Over the weekend, rescuers found 35 birds coated in oil.

"We have been very lucky so far in terms of the amount of animal impact that we have seen," said Dr. Greg Massey with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.

At IBRRC , rescue veterinarian Dr. Shannon Riggs worked another very long day checking incoming birds for injuries and taking blood and feather samples. A western grebe gave out an anguished cry as Riggs checked its beak and head.

"Most of us that have been here have been here for 16-hour days," Riggs said.

Riggs says many workers and volunteers have also been grieving over the loss of a Coast Guard C-130 transport crew and plane lost off the Southern California coast on Thursday. The same plane and several of the same crew members flew down a shipment of migratory birds from Oregon last Monday after a red tide damaged their feathers.

"Today we heard for certain that it was the people that flew our birds down from Oregon and it was really hard to deal with," said Riggs.

But volunteers and workers continue their grueling schedule. "It's wonderful that this building has been built and that it's here and that we can do this," said volunteer Janet Barth. But she would rather not have to be working to save dying birds in the first place. "We'd like to see double-hulled ships. We'd like to see a little more care of our bay so we don't have to do this again," Barth said.

At the rescue center, the birds are checked for injuries, photographed, fed and kept warm. Within 48 hours most are healthy enough to have the oil cleaned from their bodies and feathers.

Experts believe up to half the birds they receive may survive and be released into the wild once again. "Seeing them go out the door once they're clean and healthy is sort of the payback for all that investment," said Massey.