A few shrill squeaks and water rushing from a spray hose were the only sounds as Jo Joseph and another worker scrubbed a stressed seabird Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the International Bird Rescue Center in San Pedro.
“To them, we’re just giant predators messing with them,” said Kylie Clatterbuck, Wildlife Center Manager at the Los Angeles rescue center. “We try to handle them as little as possible.”
But stressful though the process was, it will save the bird’s life.
Working as quickly and as quietly as they could — all to minimize the stress — the bird rehabbers made it through the four bucket stations in about 30 minutes, but it can often take longer.
Oiled seabirds have been flooding into the center following heavy storms that stirred up the oil seep that naturally occurs off California’s coastline. Rising to the surface, the oil has contaminated scores of birds that live on the ocean, mainly Western Grebes, Clark’s Grebes, Red-throated Loons and Surf Scoters.
While this is normally a busy time of year for the bird rescue center, the season’s heavy and frequent rain has added to the numbers of seabirds that are being found in distress.
Since January, more than 110 oily, stranded seabirds have been brought into the Los Angeles nonprofit center located in Angel’s Gate Park in San Pedro. Sixty-five are currently in care but about a dozen more were delivered Wednesday and were awaiting intake.
The oil is a naturally occurring substance but is toxic to the birds. When the birds are contaminated, the oil breaks through their feather barrier which seals and regulates the animals’ body temperatures.
They become unable to feed and often beach themselves in distress.
When they’re brought in, they are dehydrated and malnourished. Treatment to stabilize them goes far beyond cleaning the birds and includes antibiotics, food and hydration.
Before they can be released back into the wild, the birds need to re-establish their waterproofing.
That multi-day process of waterproofing the birds involves feather preening and moving them back and forth between pools and drying pens.
The work flow has been brisk, but the crunch is expected to ease up toward the end of March when many of the birds will be migrating north.
Staff and volunteers are working long hours in the meantime.
“There are a lot of birds and a lot of cleaning that needs to happen,” said Joseph, the center’s volunteer coordinator. “It feels like an oil spill situation but it’s what we believe is a natural (oil) seep along the coast.”
Most of the birds have come in from the Santa Barbara and Malibu coast lines. While the center has lost “a good handful” of the birds coming in, Clatterbuck said, most do well and the prognosis is good if they are found before they become too weak.
Members of the public who find an oiled or injured animal should call 877-823-6926 or a local animal control center. The birds should never be picked up as the oil also can be toxic to humans.
