Saving oiled birds takes teamwork

Oil cleanup and wildlife rescues continued Saturday in San Francisco Bay, three days after a container ship collided with a tower of the Bay Bridge and spilled 58,000 gallons of oil.

Search and collection teams are scouring area beaches for oiled wildlife. At least 93 birds have died since Wednesday's spill, according to a spokesperson with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.

The UC Davis Wildlife Health Center, a program of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, manages the network, which operates 12 rescue centers in the state, including a bird care facility in Cordelia, where avian victims of Wednesday's spill are being taken.

Rescued oiled birds are first taken to a mobile rescue trailer, then transferred to the Cordelia rehabilitation facility. Nearly 200 live birds have made their way to the Oiled Wildlife Rescue Center.

A preliminary U.S. Coast Guard investigation has found that "human error" caused the cargo ship Cosco Busan to crash into the bridge. On Saturday, 20 Coast Guard oil skimming boats vacuumed heavy bunker oil in the bay. Since Wednesday, 20,000 gallons of oil has been collected.

State wildlife officials said they have received hundreds of reports of oiled birds found on Bay Area beaches. The 12,000-square-foot Cordelia facility can care for up to 1,000 birds.

The birds arrive at the center in plastic or cardboard cat carriers. The dark interior helps create a hidden feel, which eases stress on the birds, staffers said.

On Saturday, trained volunteer Devin Donbrowski examined a common loon, whose body was wrapped in a bath towel. While another volunteer held the bird still, Donbrowski took its temperature, collected a feather sample and checked its mouth for oil.

Oil – even a dime-sized spot – can interfere with a bird's waterproofing. That's because oil prevents birds from aligning their feathers to create an airtight and waterproof seal that keeps them warm. Without waterproofing, seabirds may stay out of the water, lack food and be exposed to predators and the elements.

Ingested oil can impair a bird's liver, kidney, pancreas, lungs and intestine.

Many birds arrived at the center emaciated and cold, and many were in shock.

Rescue workers and trained volunteers worked to stabilize the birds first, center spokesperson Sylvia Wright said.

"The most important task is to stabilize (them), and get them warm and feed them if possible so that they are better able to withstand the stresses of having oil removed from their feathers," she said.

A critical factor in whether birds live or die is the speed and efficiency of the rescue, said Mike Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.

Once animals are rescued, care workers expect 50 percent to 75 percent to survive, Ziccardi said. Release rates vary depending on the dynamics of each oil spill.

At the rescue center, 16 staffers and about 55 trained volunteers perform initial exams and feed, medicate, wash, dry and monitor birds.

Volunteers use blenders to whip up a formulated mash of mixed fish. The birds are fed six to eight times a day. Volunteers inject food and liquid into their mouths through a tube attached to a plastic syringe.

After a few days in intensive care, heartier birds are washed in tubs filled with diluted Dawn dishwashing soap.

In a washing room, birds move through washing stations. At the first station, a high-pressured jet sprays diluted soap on oil-encrusted bodies. The birds then are washed individually in plastic tubs filled with diluted soap.

On average, it takes about three to four tubs to wash the oil out, but some birds require a dozen rinses, one volunteer said. At the last stop, birds are carefully hosed down to remove the soap. The washing process can take as long as an hour per bird.

They then are placed under specially designed pet dryers, attached to wooden bins covered with fabric.

Windsor resident Harry Sandoval spent Saturday morning building bird-holding pens of wood and plastic tubing. A student at Sonoma State University, Sandoval traveled with about 10 members of the campus Biology Club to help the wildlife relief efforts.

"I think it will make a difference," he said. "We have a lot of birds here, and they're going to need a place to stay, so our pen building is helping out."

While rescuers of oiled wildlife have advanced their medical knowledge and techniques and release rates have improved, there's still limited knowledge about the long-term survival rates of rehabilitated animals.

Ziccardi cited two recent large-scale survivability studies that he co-wrote. One study compared survival rates for oiled and non-oiled Western gulls, and found no difference in how long they lived. Another study of common murres found oiled birds died earlier than their non-oiled counterparts.

Researchers at the Oiled Wildlife Care Network are using radio transmitters on birds to track the survivability and migration patterns of seabirds, Ziccardi said.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Ngoc Nguyen at (916) 321-1041. The Associated Press contributed to this report.