Threefer

By Deanna Barth

Finally, after weeks without my vehicle (major repairs), I was able to get back to doing my "rounds" after work. I decided to check out the Monterey Fisherman's Wharf to look for injured pelicans. It didn’t take long to spot one.

At one of the fish cleaning stations, I noticed one of several pelicans was sporting a bright yellow and orange feathered fishing lure.

I prepared for a successful capture, placing a bed sheet on the ground a few feet away. I then pulled out a fresh piece of fish I'd brought for baiting-in the birds.

I approached the pelican slowly, applying just enough pressure to encourage it to stand. At the same time, I held out the fillet, jiggling it a bit to entice the bird. It wasn't 30 seconds before it lunged for the fish.

In a series of moves, I grabbed the pelican's bill, guided the bird to the ground, folded its wings, covered its body and head with the bedsheet - all without letting go of its bill. I then lifted the bundle to my hip and headed for my vehicle.

On my way to the SPCA Wildlife Center, I was transferred a call from WildRescue's hotline regarding a weak pelican on Del Monte Beach. I dropped off the first pelican and headed out for the second.

The pelican was easy to spot. It was standing on the shoreline, dripping wet, head hanging down.

A lot of times, a bird in this condition will be too stressed to bait with food, but I took my bag of fillets with me just in case.

The young pelican kept his eyes on me as I approached. I was able to get fairly close. Kneeling down in front of the bird, I tossed some pieces of fish. To my surprise, the pelican showed interest, but as soon as I tried inching closer, perked up and walked away.

Since I wasn’t sure if it could fly or not, I backed off a bit, but kept beside it as it walked slowly down the beach. It stopped, I stopped. We strolled side by side for several yards.

Finally, I knelt down in front of it and tossed some fish again. He closed his eyes. I scooted on my knees, inch by inch, until it was within arm’s reach and then I quickly grabbed his bill. He was wet and cold and covered with pouch lice.

After dropping off the second pelican, I made my way back to the wharf again. There were a couple of pelicans I'd seen at the bait cleaning station that I wanted to get a better look at.

I returned to find a large group of pelicans, about 15 or so. They were anxiously watching as fishermen skinned and cleaned their catch.

Most of the pelicans were standing on the railings, watching the fishermen's hands intently. Others were walking under and around the stations waiting to grab scraps. They were all quite bold, reaching out to try and steal fish from the men’s hands.

I began herding the birds out from under the cleaning sink, which was now dripping with oily fish juice. In the process, I noticed a pelican with a pretty significant injury on its neck.

With his attention on what the fishermen were up to I was able to grab him quickly.

On my third and final trip to the wildlife hospital, the staff jokingly said “Nothing personal, but we don’t want to see you anymore today.”  It was time to head for home.

Even though I had pelican lice crawling on me, the long drive home to Hollister was pleasant. It gave me time to reflect on the rescues. After weeks of being unavailable for rescues, it felt good to be back at it, and to know that I made a difference in the lives of those three birds today. I felt really satisfied.

At home, I cleaned out my car thoroughly then headed inside. When walked in the door I was met with an audible gasp from my husband, "Ugh, what is that smell? Is that fish? Oh, my God... you stink... bad."

It was a good day indeed.

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The Year In Rescues 2012

Reserve a seat, HERE.

Email Rebecca for more information.

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Two Bucks

Corralitos, CA - This morning, WildRescue received a call about two entangled bucks - held together at the antlers by heavy-gauge telephone line.

By the time we arrived, one of the bucks was dead. The other was in pretty good shape, though, considering. He still had a lot of fight left in him, which was a good sign. His chances of surviving were pretty good if we could release him quickly.

As discussed in a previous post (Stuck Buck), wild animals, especially prey species, are susceptible to capture myopathy, where exertion to escape can kill them - instantly, or even weeks later.

Duane secured the telephone line to our rescue truck's winch and pulled the bucks up the hillside to a small oak tree. We moved in cautiously, using plywood shields (seal boards) to protect us from the deer as it lashed out. 

Using hardened wire cutters, Duane cut away at the thick messengered telephone line, working it off the buck's antlers.

Finally, he was free.

After speaking with neighbors, we found out that the abandoned telephone had come down with an old tree that fell a few weeks ago. Please check your yard for anything deer or other animals might get tangled in, and remember to be extra cautious on roads this time of year as autumn is mating season for our coastal mule deer.

We'd like to thank the Department of Fish and Game and their response to the call, and a huge THANK YOU! to the Lucido Family for donating their truck to us earlier this year. The truck's winch was invaluable!

Please help us continue our work with a donation of any size, HERE. Thank you!

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History of Wildlife Rehabilitation Part I

Rachel Carson with pet cat, Moppet. 

In 1936, Rachel Louise Carson, became the second woman to fill a full-time position with the Bureau of Fisheries (now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). She became chief editor of publications in 1949, but left the agency in 1952 to focus on writing. In 1962, Silent Sprint was published. This book was a milestone for the environmental movement, generating widespread concerns over pesticide use and pollution, and inspiring grassroots activism.

By the late 60s and early 70s, the Save the Whales campaign was gaining momentum and the concept of rehabilitating wildlife began taking shape. 

According to Holcomb, a pioneer in the field, "There was a real shift in consciousness, and people started asking, 'Okay, we want whales to be free, well then why not these other species?', so, we started rethinking our methods of dealing with injured wildlife, but," he recalled "there were two major incidents that really brought us all together."

On January 28,1969, a Union Oil drilling platform located six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, suffered a blow-out. An estimated 4 million gallons of crude oil surfaced, causing an 800-square mile slick.

With 35 miles of coastline marred and thousands of birds in peril, the community came together in force. Despite heroic efforts by self-trained volunteers, few oiled birds survived.

As President Nixon noted, the incident "touched the conscience of the American people" and fueled the environmental movement.

Months after the spill, at a United Nations conference in San Francisco, John McConnell introduced the idea of Earth Day, suggesting the vernal equinox for its global spiritual significance. "The first day of Spring, a day that historically has been celebrated by people of every creed and culture - is a day worthy of being a holiday of all of Earth's people."

McConnell also designed the Earth Flag.

March 21, 1970, marked the first official Earth Day, even though a month later, Senator Gaylord Nelson proclaimed April 22, as "Earth Day". Over the years, Senator Nelson's date has seemingly championed McConnell's, though the true Earth Day is always celebrated on the vernal equinox with the ringing of the Peace Bell at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

Over 20 million Americans participated in first Earth Day rallies across the United States. People were engaged and ready to take action for a cause...

Earth Day 1970

New York City: Union Square. Earth Day 1970

In Walnut Creek, California, a relatively small natural history center, Lindsay Wildlife Museum, was known for taking in injured wildlife - animals that were found by the public. Due to an increased need, in 1970, under the direction of curator Gary Bogue, the museum started one of the first formal rehabilitation center in the United States. Months later it would play a key role in helping massive numbers of oil-soaked birds.

On January 18, 1971, two Standard Oil tankers collided under San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, releasing 840,000 gallons of oil into the bay. Once again, citizens joined together in record numbers to help save their wildlife. Click HERE to read a firsthand account from one of the responders.

Lindsay Wildlife Museum was one of the dozen or so emergency bird centers set up throughout the Bay Area - another one was called the Richmond Bird Care Center. Alice Berkner, founder of International Bird Rescue (IBR) recalls the events leading up to the formation of her nonprofit in April 1971, HERE.

Poster made for International Bird Rescue Research Center in 1971.

Also in April 1971, the famous Keep America Beautiful PSA, People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It, aired for the first time.

The 1970s were very powerful times. People were impassioned, they felt empowered, and they took action - making things happen...

History of Wildlife Rehabilitation Part II

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Hide and Seek

Watsonville, CA - Last week, a female opossum was found sleeping in a corner behind some plants, just outside a variety store. Before rescuers could arrive to assess the animal, it was assaulted with a boot and ran into the shop.

Inside the store, the opossum found many good places to hide and sleep during the day, until one day... when an employee was moving plastic crates filled with merchandise, and her fingers felt hair inside the box. Startled, she ran to the front of the store to get help. 

WildRescue's Duane and Rebecca responded, but could not locate the opossum. The next day, they returned with their tracking expert, Cooper.

Within 3 minutes, Cooper pinpointed the marsupial's location. It was in between a stack of heavy windows. It took some time, but the team finally caught up with her.

Once captured, the team did a brief exam to make sure she was okay to set free. They quickly noticed  the blue crumbles between her teeth. She had been eating rat poison!

Management had recently placed bait blocks in the warehouse, thinking they had rats.

The blocks have since been removed.

The opossum was transported just a few miles away to Monique, with Native Animal Rescue, where she was treated with Vitamin K to counter the anticoagulant rodenticide.


UPDATE 10-26-12: The opossum is doing very well and should be ready to release any day.

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Halloween: Scary for Wildlife

Just a reminder about holiday decorations. Woven or stringy material can be dangerous to wildlife. This is a picture of a Western screech owl caught in fake spider web.

Western Screech owl caught in fake spider web. Photo by Marin Humane Society / Dave Stapp

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Long Lived the King

Drake king eider. Photo Credit Arthur Morris Birds As Art

In February 1996, a 300-foot long Japanese freighter collided with another ship off St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea. The collision resulted in a significant spill of bunker fuel that killed close to 1,000 birds.

One of the lucky survivors was a male king eider - Federal Band Number 1347-54921. He was one of 148 king eiders rescued and rehabilitated by International Bird Rescue (IBR) during the logistically complex event.

Every oil spill incident presents unique challenges. During the Pribilof Islands Spill, rescuers had to contend with freezing temperatures, snow and ice, and the 800 miles that separated the remote island from the rehabilitation center in Anchorage.

Oiled drake king eider. Credit: Paul Flint, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Another major challenge unique to this event was the rehabilitation of the heavy-bodied and heavily insulated eiders. International Bird Rescue's Jay Holcomb recalls how, after being cleaned of the oil, the eiders had to be kept in pools of ice water - "so cold you couldn't hold your hand in it for long," and even then they would pant.

Overall, the sea ducks adapted very well to captive life, according to Holcomb, and went through the rehabilitation process surprisingly quickly. Nearly 80% of the oiled eiders survived. On March 14, 1996, a group of 24 eiders was transported back to St. Paul Island and released.

Trevor Peterson with the banded eider. 

Just recently, IBR found out that one of those eiders was recovered earlier this year - Band Number 1347-54921

On January 15th, just after first light, one of the kings was taken by a hunter. Estimated to be 17 years old, the bird was near the end of its lifespan. He had lived a long life, wild and free, thanks to the heroic measures taken to save it in 1996.

Should he have been euthanized, instead?

Every once in a while, the rehabilitation of oiled wildlife is criticized, claiming it more humane to euthanize the animals than put them through the cleaning process. What critics often fail to see is that they share a conviction with those they denounce - to do no harm - unaware of the processes in place that assure balance between science and compassion, and that many, many animals are euthanized because carers know the animal would suffer unfairly.

For wild bird rehabilitators, marking their patients with numbered leg-bands upon release helps them track their success.

"One of the best indications that our methods work," says Holcomb, "is when we get reports of rehabilitated animals thriving years after being released. This king eider is an example of that. But," he cautions, "not enough rehabilitators conduct post release studies."

Professional rehabilitation has come long way in the last 40 years. Stay tuned for next week's Wild Byte for a look at the history of wildlife rehabilitation in the U.S.

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