Friday 26 July 2013
Thursday 25 July 2013
west hatch RSPCA
Response from Peter Venn in relation to the Polyisobutane spills earlier this year.
Incidents:
Two incidents in the English Channel in 2013, the first affecting 200 mile stretch of coast from South Devon to Hampshire. The second the South East stretch of Cornwall, south of Plymouth Sound mainly affecting beaches down to Charlestown perhaps further
Total of 548 birds admitted to RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre
Mainly were guillemots 90%
Razorbills were also affected in total around 50 birds in total
Single numbers of gannets, fulmars and a single arctic tern were admitted.
Rehabilitation process:
In the first incident, the most urgent decision was if we could remove the substance (it was not identified immediately) a sample was sent for analysis. In the meantime, experienced rehabilitation staff tried a vegetable spread (on a bird that had not survived) to see if it would remove the substance, which it did.
The rehabilitation process then began for all birds admitted with PIB contaminating their feathers.
This process involves:
Initial triage and stabilization: the birds are tube fed fluids and re-hydrated, they are settled overnight
The birds are assessed throughout the rehabilitation process for progress and any signs of deterioration.
Oil can get into the birds system if they preen, and typically this is what is so destructive, crude and fuel also damage the skin.
In this incident, there was hope that the birds had ingested less of the contaminant as it was so sticky.
Some birds were obviously weak from having been unable to feed or hydrate due to the effect of the PIB, stopping them from flying diving and also hypothermic as the substance preventing thermoregulation. Some birds had to be put to sleep for these reasons.
The first cleaning stage using vegetable spread to remove the PIB, about 20 minutes to half an hour per bird, the spread worked well and worked through the feathers to remove the sticky substance.
After this stage the birds were then progressed to the first wash. We use washing up liquid for this, to remove all the spread and remnant oil. In a fuel or crude oil spill this is the first stage of cleaning and veg spread is not used ordinarily.
The first wash is called a Pre-wash: or first wash, to get contaminants from feathers, about 25 minutes per bird. Guillemots are relatively easy to handle but larger species like gannets present a hazard from injury
All the water that is used is held in a contaminant tank and is removed by a waste contractor. Each time this is done it cost a £1000 and we may need to have 3 or 4 changes in an incident.
After a wash the birds go to a drying room, which is heated to 24 degrees.
While the birds are kept in the hospital (before they move to the flooded pools), they will be given a prophylaxis dose of itrafungol, an antibiotic that prevents aspergillosis a respiratory tract infection that is caused by dust in the environment. As seabirds they are not used and cannot cope well with a indoor environment , this continues until the birds are transferred to the pools.
After drying the birds are then creched in groups, this is better for them as they are a social species, they are kept in groups like this throughout the centre. Assessment continues and if doing well, feeding and thriving, we then schedule them for a second wash.
Final washes ensure the feathers are waterproof. You can see the water from the shower hose wick away as the feather proof. This proofing is due to the microfibres of the feathers and how they settle and not from the oil that is secreted by the bird from the uropygial gland, which maintains feather condition.
Once through the final wash, if all well, the birds progress to the pools stages of rehabilitation. This involves
- A pool with hard standing around to allow the birds to be in or out of the water, and we can assess how comfortable they are. We need to progress them to the pools that are flooded and see that they are waterproof, and buoyancy is good.
- The pools can be flooded and we then leave a floating mat for the birds to hop onto should they need
- The final pool stage is a flooded pool, once we are assured the birds are good on the water they spend some time entirely on a flooded pool, we need to see the can dive down and resurface
If all is well through these stages, the birds can be scheduled for release, this involves veterinary checks and a blood test that is an objective assessment for the vet
If these are all clear, the birds are then fitted with a BTO ring and taken for release the same day. We released both in Portland and at Berry head in Devon during the incidents.
Our release rate for oiled birds is often around 40%, but on the second of the two incidents this was down to around 25% as the birds were more compromised and the contamination more severe.
These birds may have been at sea for longer before being blown ashore and therefore been exposed to the cold and lost more weight.
Aftermath:
Investigations we understand are continuing into the spill.
We at West Hatch would like to thank everyone who helped rescue the birds from the beaches, and the RSPCA inspectorate who worked so hard to get the birds to us. We would like to acknowledge the help provided by volunteers who helped here at the centre throughout the process, many of whom gave up free time and holiday to help.
Our staff worked long and relentless hours to make the process as successful as we could.
Unfortunately all oil spills (PIB is a mineral oil used for a number of industrial applications) we are really trying to salvage birds from a destructive and extremely serious ordeal. In terms of the casualties we see at the wildlife centre, it is of course upsetting for everyone here to so many animals suffering as a consequence of pollution incidents like this.
History of oils spills at west hatch
West Hatch has been a pioneer in oiled bird rehabilitation since the 1960’s. This year is our 50th Anniversary. The first RSPCA wildlife warden was a man named John Hughes, he started the early work on rehabilitating seabirds caught in oil and fuel spills and coordinated the Torrey Canyon incident rehabilitation response in 1967. Over the years West Hatch has dealt with many headline incidents from the Torrey Canyon to the Amoco Cadiz, the Sea Empress, the Napoli, and has deployed expert staff over seas to deal with spills, notably Norway and Estonia.
The RSPCA’s oiled seabird cleaning unit was established here in the late 1970’s and also a mobile seabird cleaning unit, which allowed us to send staff to other UK coasts to deal with spills.
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