Every Bird Matters

News and Views from International Bird Rescue

Update: Orange County Pipeline Oil Spill Response

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After being cleaned of oil, a Ruddy Duck at the Los Angeles Wildlife Center, co-managed with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. Photo: OWCN/UC Davis

Dear Friend and Supporter,

Isabel Luevano, left, and Meagan Hofmeister, both of International Bird Rescue, pre-treat an oiled Western Grebe before washing the bird at the Los Angeles Wildlife Center, which is co-managed with Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN). Photo: OWCN-UC Davis

I am currently at our Los Angeles wildlife hospital where, in addition to our usual patients, we are geared up toward oil spill response. Alongside our partners in the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), Bird Rescue has teams in the field engaging in animal search and rescue, as well as teams in the clinic providing cleaning and care to animals affected by the oil spill. Several of our senior clinic staff from Northern California have joined their colleagues in Los Angeles to assist with oil response, as well as day-to-day clinic operations.

Daily clinic operations do not stop during a spill. I am incredibly proud of our junior staff members and volunteers who have stepped up to fill in, caring for our regular caseload of injured birds – enabling their colleagues to focus on spill-related efforts. We are all working long hours and incurring additional expense to keep up.

In the midst of this environmental disaster, my thoughts turn to Gratitude.

I am incredibly grateful for the support you have given to International Bird Rescue. Because of decades of faithful support by donors like you, Bird Rescue is always poised to respond to crises such as this one.

  • We maintain three permanent facilities in high risk areas along the Pacific Flyway – Alaska, San Francisco Bay-Delta, and Los Angeles.
  • We have in place a highly trained staff and a cadre of volunteers who work with wild birds every day of the year.
  • We have decades of experience, hands-on knowledge, and science-based training that we bring to bear on this situation.
  • We are ready to respond at a moment’s notice. When there is an emergency such as this one, there is no down time.


Your faithful support makes it possible for us to act courageously and confidently in an emergency such as this one.

We are focusing our efforts on providing the best care possible to oiled wildlife and relying on our partners at the OWCN to provide updates on spill status. More information on the spill can be found at the Unified Command site: https://socalspillresponse.com/

With profound gratitude,

Photo and signature for JD Bergeron CEO of International Bird Rescue

P.S. – If you see oiled animals don’t try to catch them yourselves. Instead report those sightings immediately via this hotline number: 1-877-823-6926.