The Process of an Animal Clean-Up After an Oil Spill

Location And Capture

• Locating animals and areas that can be set up as wards for marine life is the first step in cleaning up the animal population after an oil spill. Barriers are set up around unaffected tidal areas to keep fish and other small marine life from being affected by the oil. Larger animals, like birds, are captured and taken to a cleaning station with a veterinarian. Dead animals must be collected as well so healthy animals do not scavenge their corpses, and so they do not wash back out into the water and pollute it again.

Veterinary Checkup

• Veterinarians run a full checkup on every animal brought to them and assess their chances of survival. Animals that are sickly, dying, injured or otherwise suffering are usually humanely euthanized via lethal injection. These animals are then placed with the ones that are brought in already dead and the bodies are disposed of; usually by burning to prevent more oil from seeping into the ground. If a veterinarian gives an animal a good bill of health and a high percentage chance of survival, it is taken to the first holding area with other animals that are still covered in oil. They are observed for 24-48 hours.

Cleaning-Again and Again

• Animals are gathered up and washed in assembly-line fashion. Oil-diluting detergents are used to help break up the oil in feathers and fur. Warm, softened water is used as a rinse. Depending on how badly oiled the animal is, it may take several times being washed and dried to achieve a fully clean animal.

Holding

• How well an animal takes the cleaning and how healthy it appears determines when it is released. Some animals are ready to head into clean areas within days, while others may take months. Some may be forced to go to wildlife rehabilitators for the rest of their lives if they are unreleasable. They are kept in appropriate housing areas by species while they are held. Veterinary care is given as needed.

Outbound Veterinary Check

• When an animal is cleared to be released, a veterinarian checks it over once again. If anything worrisome comes up, the animal is placed back in the holding pen to continue recovering. If the animal is cleared for release, it is banded, tagged or fitted with a radio transmitter and set aside with the others ready for release.

Release

• Release takes place at a safe distance from the oil spill. Animals are released in safe numbers according to species and allowed to go about their way.