Gulf Oil Spill Wildlife Disaster

As the rescue of oiled birds winds down in the Gulf region, the International Bird Rescue Research Center reports on their efforts to save these birds.

As of late September 2010, at least 1,235 healthy cleaned birds were returned to the wild. Most of the birds captured alive and collected dead were from Louisiana. The species included Brown Pelicans, Northern Gannets, Laughing Gulls and Roseate Spoonbills.

Since the oil spill has been stopped, attention turns to ways to restore habitat and to bring back the wildlife that has been so devastated. On the Audubon blog, several experts provide their opinions:

Five months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank, unleashing an unprecedented amount of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the well is dead. Permanently plugging BP’s well proved to be an incredible feat of engineering, but now comes the really hard part: restoring damaged habitat and protecting the wildlife that depend on it. We asked experts, from environmentalists and scientists to government agencies and legislators, what the most important next steps are. Here’s what they have to say:

Although news from the Gulf oil spill has been more infrequent than at the beginning, wildlife officials are looking for birds that need help. The Daily Comet in Thibodaux, LA, reports:

Scientists are expecting a spike in the number of dead birds recovered amid the Gulf oil spill as they begin this week searching large nesting colonies in places such as Terrebonne’s Raccoon and Whiskey islands, which had previously been off limits.

Scouring the islands will take about two weeks, officials said.

Scientists have avoided disturbing the rookeries, which often pack thousands on nesting birds on a single island.

Rhonda Murgatroyd, owner of Wildlife Response Services, which has contracted with BP for the bird-rehabilitation and recovery efforts, said scientists had chosen not to go after oiled birds they had spotted in rookeries because they didn’t want to risk disturbing healthy nesting birds and their young.

The folks in Eaton, Mich., love animals and they are taking steps to show even normal people can become extraordinary heroes.

Going above and beyond their normal daily lives, they are taking steps to ensure the wildlife affected by the oil spill gets cleaned up and a second chance. From the Lansing State Journal:

Then there's the woman known as the "Turtle Rehabber," Kay Frasher. Frasher, who works as a vet tech at the Holt Veterinarian Clinic, is licensed as an animal rehabilitator and specializes in turtles native to Michigan.

"Anytime we get turtles, they go to Kay," Sagaert said. Frasher says cleaning a turtle with Dawn liquid detergent, using cotton tipped swabs for the creases in its neck and legs, can take from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on how tarry it is. It's painstaking work that often involves a few bites, especially in the attempt to grab the turtle's head in order to clean its neck.

Frasher, though, isn't complaining. "I've really been amazed to see this come together in such a short time," she said of the large rescue site in Marshall. "I'm honored to have been called and to be here." There are countless examples of loving dedication every day at the rescue site.

Jay Holcomb, the director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center, updated the progress of rehabilitating the hundreds of oiled birds. Amazingly, the center is still receiving oiled birds, despite the capping of the oil well. In his blog, Holcomb writes:

This past week we released more than 150 clean birds after successful rehabilitation at the ongoing Gulf Oil Spill bird rescue. They were returned to the wild on Rabbit Island, another clean bird nesting island in western Louisiana.

We've had a fair amount of storm activity in the last few weeks and have had to schedule bird releases around heavy wind and rain. That’s unfortunate for us but will not impact the birds who can wait a few extra days before they return to the wild. We have made the best use of that time by providing live fish for them to eat so the young pelicans can continue to play and develop hunting skills as they plunge feed and chase live minnows in their pools.

Why are we still getting oiled birds?

While the number of oiled birds has slowed down tremendously, and especially in the last month, we are still receiving fledgling pelicans, gulls and terns. These fledgling birds became oiled while they were playing and bathing in the puddles in the inland areas or on the shorelines of small islands. In July a strong storm surge pushed oil onto some of the nesting islands in the Grande Isle area. These islands are primarily made up of sand, gravel and shell and the highest elevations are typically no more than 4 feet high.

Clean-up from the oil spill continues in Michigan, and even though news coverage has faded away, Fort Worth Zoo is still bringing in daily loads of animals which need care.

We have an upcoming interview with one of the rehabbers on the scene, but in the meantime, here's a quick follow up from FWDailynews.com:

The turtles need a lot of help. “Many of the turtles are covered in black, gooey oil residue,” says Smith. “It can take hours to clean a single turtle.”

After undergoing required training and donning protective Tyvek clothing, masks, and booties to avoid contact with the toxic oil residue, the zoo keepers begin the meticulous task of removing the thick layer of oil coating each turtle. Using gauze, swabs, and disposable towels, they gradually remove the tarry oil from every bit of a turtle’s body.

“It’s very tedious work,” says Smith. So far, about 370 turtles have been brought to the site for cleaning and rehabilitation. Nearly 150 turtles have been released into the Kalamazoo River upstream of the spill. Map turtles, painted turtles, softshell turtles and snapping turtles are among the species rescued.

From the beginning of the oil spill crisis, the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC), has been involved in rescue, rehabilitation, and release of oiled birds (and other species of animals). On their Website, they report their latest activities on behalf of the birds:

Today (Friday) we released 78 birds including the last spoonbills and over 50 laughing gull chicks. Tomorrow another 40 plus fledgling pelicans are being released. We received news that one of the adult pelicans that was released in Georgia, July 1 (red plastic band # 29C) was just seen at the Empire Marina in Buras on Aug 25.

In an appalling discovery, a group of Louisiana wildlife activists found many dead birds on an island off the coast of Louisiana. The damage to wildlife will continue indefinitely. In "Dead Bird Island" Discovered in Gulf, Animal Planet reports on their Website:

The Louisiana Environmental Action Network is reporting dozens of dead sea birds on an island off the Louisiana coast. The group was out collecting sediment samples in their effort to monitor and understand the impacts of the BP oil spill disaster when they made the discovery. The bird carcasses ranged from completely decomposed to freshly dead, indicating that whatever is killing them is ongoing.

As with other dead wildlife found in the Gulf, further investigation will need to be done to determine whether or not the deaths are the result, directly or indirectly, of the oil spill. In light of the magnitude of this disaster, however, all dead or dying wildlife in the region should be considered potential casualties of the spill.

Despite official pronouncements that most of the oil has disappeared, scientists have discovered the opposite is true. In Massive oil plume discovered in the Gulf, the journal Science reports:

Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have detected a plume of hydrocarbons that is at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a result of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, reports a study published in Science.

The 1.2-mile-wide, 650-foot-high plume of trapped hydrocarbons provides a clue on where all the oil has gone as oil slicks on the surface disappear.

"These results indicate that efforts to book keep where the oil went must now include this plume," said Christopher Reddy, a WHOI marine geochemist and oil spill expert and one of the authors of the study, in a statement.

In First oiled turtles released in Gulf after rehab, AP reports on the release of 22 turtles. May they "live long and prosper"!

The first rehabilitated turtles oiled by BP's massive leak were released back into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, with scientists saying that animals taken in by rescuers—including birds—appear more resilient than first feared.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is overseeing the oil crisis for the government, helped release the 22 oiled sea turtles about a mile off the coast of Cedar Key, Fla., an area unaffected by the spilled crude. They were the first oiled turtles found in the Gulf and rehabilitated.

"I think it's emblematic of us starting to look forward in the recovery," Allen said, smiling as he released some of the turtles. "This is a very pristine environment. This is their natural habitat."

Even though oil spill rescue crews have brought more sea turtles and birds to shore in the month since BP capped its broken well than the previous month, wildlife officials said both kinds of animals have suffered less damage than originally projected.