B. Current Methods of Oiled Bird Rehabilitation: ( Anne S. Williams 



Ms. Williams is associated v/ith the International Bird Rescue Research 

 Center at Berkeley, California. She discussed the latest techniques for 

 collecting and restoring oil -soaked birds and indicated that the weight of public 

 opinion demands that efforts be made to clean and care for birds affected by oil. 

 She cited the record that the Bird Rescue Center in Berkeley has established in 

 this area. The Center released 125 of 175 birds (a 75 percent return to nature) 

 within 3 days of a spill. The degree of "oiling" of a bird has nothing to do 

 with the decision of whether to employ euthanasia. By far tne most important 

 factor in the decision is the amount of stress involved. She then described 

 several forms of stress in oil -soaked birds. 



C. Operational Procedures for Reducing Wildlife Losses: Overview and 

 Future Considerations: Philip B. Stanton 



Dr. Stanton, of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at Upton, Massachusetts, 

 stressed the importance of increasing the populations of certain marine avian 

 species. This would be accomplished not by cleaning and returning them to the 

 wild, but by increasing their reproductive potential through management techniques 

 and habitat improvement. He stated that, to his knowledge, no bird species in 

 the continental United States has been jeopardized as a result of oil spills, 

 but that this situation has occurred in other parts of the world. He emphasized 

 the seriousness of oil spills in Arctic waters and their impact on Arctic sea- 

 bird populations. 



He questioned the release success of oiled birds that had been cleaned. 

 According to his investigations, about 85 percent of birds that are released 

 from rescue centers die within 6 months. It is not known how many of these 

 would have died from natural causes over the same period of time. 



Dr. Stanton then discussed the problems associated with the cleaning of 

 thousands of birds, in the case of major spills. He asked what should be done 

 in situations involving that number of birds. 



This point, I think, is a good one: in the case of small spills, eyery 

 effort should be made to clean and care for all the birds involved and to put 

 these birds through a rehabilitation program. When the spill affects thousands 

 of birds, however, some common sense must be used. To cite an example, I shall 

 describe a situation that occurred in California after the oil spill in 1971. At 

 that time, 7,000 birds were brought in to various rescue centers, each of which 

 was an absolute madhouse. (One cannot comprehend the confusion unless he has 

 experienced the situation.) At some centers, the staff had been working day in 

 and day out for a week. Despite all this effort, nearly 98 percent mortality pre- 

 vailed. The incident emphasizes the need to look at the total population status 

 of the species involved. It is not practicable to reclaim and clean e\/ery bird 

 in a major spill . 



Dr. Stanton recommended that the Fish and Wildlife Service take steps to 

 establish bird-cleaning stations, and he also suggested that the public may now 

 be ready to accept the "facts of life" concerning bird-cleaning in general. He 

 said that more information is needed on marine birds, their life history, and 



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