The daily update from Thursday, May 13, of oiled wildlife care at the Gulf Oil Spill follows:
Yesterday we received one heavily oiled Brown Pelican at our Ft. Jackson Oiled Wildlife Center that was found near Grande Isle, Louisiana. We are expanding our capture efforts west towards that area.
Our Gulfport, Mississippi center received one dead oiled Surf Scoter.
Most of the capture team in the Louisiana was grounded for good part of the day due to high winds. Bird search & capture efforts continued in the Mississippi, Alabama areas.
We will keep you updated on any new developments.
– Jay Holcomb, IBRRC Executive Director
International Bird Rescue is working with the main responder, Tri-State Bird Rescue of Delaware. IBRRC has 16 response team members on the ground including veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitation managers and facilities and capture specialists.
The oil spill involves a ruptured drilling platform approximately 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. The drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, exploded on April 20, 2010 and sank in 5,000 feet of water. More than 100 workers scrambled off the burning rig in lifeboats. 11 workers are missing and presumed dead.
>Photo above: Heavily oiled Brown Pelican rescued at Grande Isle, LA on May 13th.
Thank you, thank you , thank you for your efforts. I'm going to send my friends a link to your site. Please keep up the great work.
Suz in the FL panhandle
Thank You for your hard work and dedication. Know that you are very appreciated by many.
Keep up the good work…please!
With so many people from IBRRC working in the gulf, who is left at the rehabilitation facilities in California to take care of the birds there?
Are there any search and collection teams out on the open water? Since there have been reports of birds trying to climb onto booms and boats and there isn't much oil on land yet, has anyone been trying to look for oiled birds out where the oil is?
Jay Holcomb says:
"In order to support our staff and volunteers back at home in Cordelia (Northern California) and San Pedro (Southern California) we are hiring on extra summer help at both centers to make sure that the clinics are supported and run as smoothly as possible.
Also, we will probably be shifting our main clinic rehabilitation staff out to give each of them opportunities to work in the Gulf. We will be evaluating and are developing this plan daily as things progress here in the Gulf and we gain a better idea as to how long we may be staying. "