WildCare's Role During and After the Spill
The Cosco Busan Oil Spill on November 7, 2007 stretched the resources of WildCare and other wildlife organizations to the limit. Overall, 20% of the recovered oiled wildlife from the spill passed through WildCare's doors.
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WildCare Oiled Patients
as of |
12/31/07 1pm |
588 |
WildCare is a proud member of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) a legislatively mandated program within the California Department of Fish and Game Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) which strives to ensure that wildlife exposed to petroleum products in the environment receive the best achievable treatment by providing access to permanent wildlife rehabilitation facilities and trained personnel for oil spill response within California.
The Story of the Spill
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Heavy-duty bunker fuel oil from the 58,000 gallons that spilled from a container ship when it rammed the Bay Bridge has washed up on several San Francisco beaches and the Marin Headlands, officials said today.
Some 8,000 gallons of oil have been contained since Wednesday's accident, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. William Uberti said this morning. Large patches are still floating in the bay. Dozens of birds coated in the oil have been rescued from beaches stretching as far north as Stinson Beach. A handful have died.
Some officials say they expect the beach pollution to worsen early this afternoon as the tide rushes out of the Golden Gate. Along Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, National Park Service ranger Robert Del Secco kept visitors away from the beach, which is covered in dark clumps of oil.
Click to read the rest of the SF Chronicle story and view photos
Why Oil Is So Deadly to Birds
Although the entire San Francisco Bay ecosystem will be affected by the oil spill, it is the waterfowl who float and feed on the surface that are the worst affected.
Ocean-going birds have very special feather adaptations that allow them to stay warm in chilly ocean waters. These birds have interlocking barbules on their feathers that weave tightly together to create a warm, impermeable barrier, keeping body head in and cold water out. Oil causes feathers to clump and stick, and disengages these carefully overlapping feathers, allowing cold water access to the bird's skin. This means the bird cannot thermoregulate (control its own body temperature). Imagine sitting in the cold Bay water with a wet towel wrapped around your body all day and all night, and you can get an idea of what an oiled bird experiences in a catastrophe like this.
Birds recognize the dangers of hypothermia, so their immediate instinct is to clean the oil off themselves (called preening). Unfortunately preening causes them to ingest the oil which poisons the birds. As time passes, WildCare and other bird rescue organizations will see more birds, both dead and alive being picked up onshore as the cold and toxic oil becomes too much for them. Birds ill enough to be captured on land have a much-diminished chance of survival.
Oiled birds continued to arrive at WildCare more than a month after the spill!
Damage from the oil spill was less obvious in San Francisco Bay one month after the Cosco Busan dumped 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the Bay, but tens of thousands of gallons of toxic fuel were still floating around the Bay Area and surrounding ocean.
WildCare received patient #2230, a Common Murre from Bolinas, CA on the evening of December 7, 2007. Murres are commonly seen at the Farallon Islands, and nest there in the spring.
An oiled murre indicates that the oil continued to spread.
This murre was the last oil spill-related patient WildCare received, but there is no doubt that birds continued (and continue still) to be affected by this disaster.
HAZMAT and Oil Spill Response Training
The Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) is revamping their training program for future oil spill responders. 2009 classes will focus on expanding the team of trained volunteers able to rescue oiled animals and assist in clean-up efforts.
In general, OWCN only accepts trainees with previous animal-handling experience and recommendations from participating agencies.
WildCare volunteers donated hundreds of hours not only to our hospital's efforts, but also to bathing birds, cleaning up beaches and rescuing oiled animals with OWCN and IBRRC.
Becoming a WildCare volunteer not only gives you an incredible opportunity to work with, learn about and heal ill, injured and orphaned wild animals, it also places you within a network of people eligible to take OWCN classes in oil spill response.
Click for more information on WildCare's volunteer program. | 
