Dear Friends,
Today our organization turns 40. Reflecting on this milestone, I am especially grateful to you, our supporters, for four decades of partnership with the unyielding conviction that every bird matters – from the thousands of birds we tried to save in 1971 after an oil spill in the San Francisco Bay, and the more than 200 oil spills that followed, to the hundreds of seabirds that have arrived in our centers over recent months due to natural oil seep off the California coast. We have saved hundreds of thousands of birds.
To mark our anniversary, we have a refreshed look and a new website. Click here to take a tour. This update is simply a more contemporary way to express what has always been in our hearts, a deep commitment to doing all that we can to protect the lives of aquatic birds. You’ll see that we’ve also streamlined our name to International Bird Rescue, which we think says it all. Since the day we opened our doors, what has never changed – and never will – are our values, and especially our belief that every bird matters.
Over the past four decades, both the scope and the sophistication of our clinical work and research have evolved. Our dedicated team, supported by a remarkable crew of over 100 volunteers, now works out of two state-of-the-art wildlife care centers on the West Coast which treat more than 5,000 birds every year. We’ve responded to aquatic bird emergencies in all corners of the globe, from oiled Murres in Alaska following the Exxon Valdez, and the 20,000 penguins caught in the Treasure spill in South Africa, to the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico one year ago today.
All of this work is only possible because of people like you. As we reflect on 40 years of service, we would love to hear why you care about Bird Rescue, and invite you to leave us a message on our Facebook page.
Thank you for supporting 40 years of life-saving work and for encouraging others to do the same!
With deepest gratitude,
Paul Kelway
Executive Director
International Bird Rescue