Staff from the University of California, Davis, Wildlife Health Center and its partner organizations boarded boats at the Dubai Star oil spill in the San Francisco Bay on Friday to assess the situation and collect any oiled birds.If oiled birds are eventually captured, they will be taken either to Oiled Wildlife Care Network member organizations in the Bay Area or to a customized rescue trailer -- a traveling emergency room that can be towed from Davis to the spill command post. There, veterinary staff will assess the affected birds' conditions and give them first aid.
The care network is managed statewide by the university's wildlife health center, a unit of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Once examined, the birds will be taken to the San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Fairfield, where they will receive the world's most-advanced veterinary care for oiled wildlife.
Because of an algae bloom earlier this month off the Oregon coast, the Fairfield center already houses 450 sick birds being cared for by the International Bird Rescue Research Center. UC Davis veterinarian Michael Ziccardi said, however, that it can handle whatever oiled birds are affected during this spill and, if needed, he will send the Oregon birds to sister facilities elsewhere in California.
At the center, the first order of business is not to remove oil from the birds. Instead, it is to warm the birds and nourish them. Once stabilized, they will
be better able to withstand the stresses of being washed.
The Fairfield center is a 12,000-square-foot, $2.7 million facility capable of caring for up to 1,000 sick birds. It is the major Northern California rescue center in the statewide network, which comprises 12 rescue facilities and 25 organizations prepared to care for oiled wildlife on short notice.
As of Friday, a corps of trained volunteers stood by to staff the rescue center, if needed.
Later, if more volunteers are needed, a notice will be posted online at http://owcn.org/.
Jonna Mazet, another UC Davis veterinarian and oiled-bird expert, has estimated that for every oiled seabird that is found washed ashore, an estimated 10 to 100 birds died at sea.
The Oiled Wildlife Care Network is funded by the California Office of Spill Prevention and Response, a unit of the Department of Fish and Game. The Fish and Game monies come from interest on the $50 million California Oil Spill Response Trust Fund, built from assessments on the oil industry.