Clean the birds, or kill them?

reply to post by bananabond


I would also like to quote part of a post I made in another thread, that I think it relevant for others here to read:

From here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Quoted from me:

I will only respond to the wildlife issue.. I couldn't pat you on the back enough for pointing this out to people.

I have worked professionally with wildlife for 5 years, and I grew up taking care of wild animals, not just a dog or a cat. You couldn't be more right. I know that people want to help. Many here on ATS I know have a very soft spot for animals. Trust me, I get that. I am one of you, but Kit is right, leave this to professionals.. not just with this oil spill, but in general. I can't tell you how many people I have seen, only in my short amount of time in working in the field, try to take an injured animal home to care for it. I would say well over 90 percent of the time, the animal will not make it. Either they are not cared for properly.. they are not cared for enough before release.. or they are released into the wrong setting. It doesn't take long for some types of animals to become domesticated, in that they begin to depend on the human to meet it's needs, especially if they are young. This will lead to them not being able to adjust back into a wild setting fast enough and most certainly lead to their death.

While it is noble that you want to help, I feel it is better for nature if we allow animals to die naturally if we cannot adequately provide for them. If you really care about nature, then you will allow it to take it's course if you are not properly trained. If you still try, I can assure you to almost a certainty that death will still be the outcome, and I would question if you really care, or if you are just trying to help to be self seeking. Some of you will say, well this is a man made disaster, and not natural. You are correct, but it doesn't change the fact that these animals that are covered in oil need special care only trained professionals can give them. I'm not saying this to be rude, I'm saying it because like so many of you.. I love animals too. Even with my training, I would still need some safety courses to be able to deal with the crude oil.. which like Kit mentioned.. is highly toxic.

I guess I've made my point clear.. anything else would be beating the horse to death.

I say try to save them if there is any chance of survival, should be a no brainer.

Originally posted by Jeremiah Johnson
I say try to save them if there is any chance of survival, should be a no brainer.

Just to clarify my post prior to yours, for everyone that reads it..

I am not advocating allowing these animals to die. If 1 out of 10,000 can be saved.. then to me it is a justified effort, and well worth it.

The only point I am trying to advocate is to leave the wildlife to the professionals. Despite my training and experience, if I were to go down to the Gulf, I would still have to have safety training due to the toxicity of the crude and dispersants used.

When I first read the original article, I was angry at the person for even suggesting such a thing, especially if it was just for monetary concerns. However after reading the comments from everyone I see the point about stressing the birds who certainly don't know what is happening to them. The sad thing is we see the birds because they are above the water and on the shores, what about the sea-life that we don't see?

What about the babies, they certainly can't survive if their mother is taken from them or dies in this mess. I saw a video of fingerling size fish washed up on the beach dead, won't that affect fish runs for many seasons to come??

I don't know what the answer is but don't we owe it to the wildlife to try to help in this man-made mess??

"According to serious studies, the middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under 1 percent," Silvia Gaus, a biologist at the Wattenmeer National Park along the North Sea, was quoted as saying on Spiegel Online last month. "We, therefore, oppose cleaning birds."

Well that's a heck of a lot better than 0% survival rate. Even with the smallest percentage of survival at least they have a chance at bringing their numbers back up after this is all over and things start getting back to normal.

The most important thing is that it's the right thing to do. They didn't have anything to do with this and we owe it to them to help them as much as we can.

The pictures are just heartbreaking, I can't imagine how terrible it must be for them. Being that this happened during the breeding/birthing season it is going to have an extremely negative impact on our wildlife.

reply to post by bananabond

I donated my hair to the oil spill. I was wanting to grow my hair out, but the morning I saw the dolphins on the news... I went out and got it cut because the newscaster mentioned something about the clean-up effort being in need for human hair.

Thanks for that info, I wasn't aware of this. I can probably cut off a good 6 inches, or more to send in and it's thick too. It looks like they take hair from pets too, my lab is shedding and I can probably get a a boxfull from her alone. It's nice to know that even those of us that are far away can help out in a small way.

Where do you send the hair to? Can someone list an address? I have a persian cat who has a LOT of hair that she sheds.

reply to post by Night Star


Any info you need can be found here: Matter of Trust

reply to post by bananabond


Take it from me, an Exxon Valdez oil spill worker and veterinarian, almost all oiled bird and mammals don't survive in spite of extensive remedial efforts! There are reasons I will get into.

From source:

"According to serious studies, the middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under 1 percent," Silvia Gaus, a biologist at the Wattenmeer National Park along the North Sea, was quoted as saying on Spiegel Online last month. "We, therefore, oppose cleaning birds."

What this scientist is saying is the actual truth. Almost all birds don't survive!

As I mentioned, during the Exxon Valdez spill, millions were spent on efforts to recover wildlife especially to sea otters that I was directly involved in but also oiled birds.

Almost all of the sea otters that I caught and treated died. The rate of recovery was less than 10%.

Almost all oiled birds die.

The reason is that the oiling covers the fur and feathers and the birds and mammals work tirelessly to remove the oil. They lick and preen off the oil and ingest it. The ingested oil is extremely toxic. Extremely toxic to the liver.

A thimble full can kill almost any creature!

Any oil less than a week old is extremely liver toxic because of short chain hydrocarbons, that is less than 100 carbons. Less than 50 is deadly.

So not only are oiled birds and mammals intoxicated, their feathers and coats are soiled so the animals loose their essential thermal insulating layers and therefor die of hypothermia.

Having said all of this there is a silver lining. I was down in the Prince Williams Sound last week where the Exxon Valdez spill occurred. The Sound was as alive and vibrant as ever.

I was there extensively before the spill and I'll have to admit, the Sound looked as good, healthy and vigorous now as it did before the spill!

Nature is tremendously capable of recovery from an oil spill is my experience! I thought at the time that marine life in the Sound was over but that was simply over reaction!