A quick update follows on the Gulf Oil Leak wildlife response from IBRRC’s Jay Holcomb:
Tuesday was a good day for the capture teams on the water as the weather allowed our teams, who are working as part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) bird capture program, to cover a large area of water. Over 6,000 birds were sighted and most of them were clean. Oiled birds were found here and there and a total of 4 oiled birds were brought into the Fort Jackson bird rehabilitation facility in Louisiana – a brown pelican, least tern, northern gannet and a laughing gull.
One oiled brown pelican was captured and brought into the Alabama facility on Tuesday also.
Search and collection efforts and the rehabilitation of the birds at these facilities are continuing.
Thanks for your interest,
– Jay Holcomb, IBRRC Executive Director
International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) is working with the main responder, Tri-State Bird Rescue of Delaware. IBRRC has about 20 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.
The leak continues to spill oil into Gulf waters and BP has made some progress in plugging the gush of crude from the ocean floor. So far, experts believe the amount of oil in the water has surpassed the 11 million gallons spilled during the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
My god where the heck is all the oil? We've all seen the video of that leak. Where's the oil? It's like the movie Volcano where the lava was creeping underground and suddenly emerged. This is really really scary. Best wishes. Thanks for what you're doing.
Where are all the oiled birds?? I know there must be more oiled birds then are being reported or apparently being captured. So where are they? If the skills of the bird rescue groups are being wasted (as reported in the LA Times) then politics must be at play here. The suffering of the animals affected by this event must be acknowledged and addressed. That this is not a priority for those in charge of this event is a huge disappointment to the public that has entrusted them to care for these animals.
I understand the need to bring awareness to the public regarding the plight of these animals. However, the video of the oiled bird in the surf lying on its back due to being weighted down with oil in reprehensible. I do not understand why those videotaping this segment did nothing to help the plight of this poor defenseless animals. It seemed as though there was no empathy for the misery and danger the poor animal was in. I would like to know that at the very least after filming their "newscast" they helped this animal and did not leave it to die.
The birds on this beach WERE rescued by Search and Collection personnel.