tagged w/ Wildlife Rescue
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WLOX...
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Injured pelicans, other birds, rescued in Waveland
Posted: Sep 05, 2011 5:04 PM PDT
Updated: Sep 05, 2011 5:24 PM PDT
By Steve Phillips
WAVELAND, MS (WLOX) -
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A wildlife rescue team is working to save young pelicans and other birds injured by the tropical storm. Strong winds and pounding waves from the storm system washed ashore several birds that were either injured or exhausted.
With a net in hand, wildlife rescue volunteer Randy Hines captures a young pelican on the beach in Waveland Monday. The bird shows signs of storm trauma: Bruised feet and swollen joints.
"They're bruised from all the paddling they've had to do when getting blown off their islands," Hines said.
Tropical Storm Lee's wind and waves pushed baby pelicans off their nesting grounds.
"The Chandelier Island chain in Louisiana have a lot of rookeries, pelican rookeries out there. And we had the same problem happen in Gustav in 2008, where a lot of them were washed in from those rookeries off of the islands," said Allison Sharpe with the Wildlife Care & Rescue Center.
Healthy pelicans fly off as Hines approaches with the net. The remaining bird, an injured juvenile, was frightened, but unable to fly away.
Anyone who stumbles across an injured pelican should not attempt such a rescue.
"First of all, people have to understand these are federally protected birds and they're not supposed to touch them. We've been receiving calls since late yesterday afternoon about a lot of the birds down here on the beaches with injuries to their wings."
And it's not just pelicans. The group picked up an injured seagull at the Pass Christian Harbor. They also found an exhausted northern gannet is also a storm rescue bird.
"They dive into the water, just like our pelicans, to catch their meal."
The goal is the same for all rescued bird: Nurse them back to health, and return them to where they belong.
"Try to get them re-hydrated, get some food into them, get them where they're old enough to start flying by themselves and to obviously release them."
Again, if you find an injured pelican or other sea bird, you should call the professionals rather than attempt a rescue yourself. You can reach the Wildlife Care and Rescue Center at (228) 669-2737.
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Injured pelicans, other birds, rescued in Waveland
Posted: Sep... more
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Group Braces for Influx of Injured Owls in LA
Burrowing owls receive care through the winter
By JOSH STEINER
Updated 12:32 PM PDT, Tue, Oct 5, 2010
As October rolls into Southern California, so do migrating birds, some of which will end up staying alive thanks to Valley Wildlife Care.
The wildlife rescue plans on taking in hundreds of weak and injured birds throughout the next few months, according to a news release by the VWC.
One species the VWC takes in every year is the burrowing owl, many of which come all the way from Canada. These owls are small, round and fly very slow, topping out at only 10 miles per hour.
It can be difficult for these owls to survive in the Los Angeles area. Their ideal climate is not the city that they end up in, but the prairie lands that used to be here many years ago. However, it is still burned into their minds that the lands they need are still here, and that's where the VWC comes in.
The owls that make it to the VWC usually stay until February or March. At that point, they are taken about 350 miles away to a preserve designed specifically for them. Studies have shown that owls that spend the winter with VWC are more likely to survive until spring than those who try to make it on their own.
Those owls who do not spend the winter in the care of VWC tend to fly to locations in Southern Mexico and Central America.
The VWC got one of their first visitors on Tuesday, a small injured burrowing owl that showed up with severe internal bleeding. Medical staffers are working to stabilize the bird (pictured, above) and hope to see it thorough to a full recovery.
More owls are expected to join this one very soon.
First Published: Oct 5, 2010 10:55 AM PDTGroup Braces for Influx of Injured Owls in LA
Burrowing owls receive care through the... more
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Drought, flower farms, and pesticides are damaging the already shallow lake
NAIROBI, KENYA—-Flamingos are showing up on Lake Naisvasha, a freshwater vacation destination 100 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, and they worry David Kilo. Why? Because flamingos favor saltwater. When flamingos flock to freshwater lakes it’s an unmistakable signal that the natural balances of a healthy ecosystem have sustained a heavy blow.
“They shouldn’t be here,” Kilo told Circle of Blue in March following the United Nations’ World Water Day Conference in Kenya. “They usually gather at Nakuru, [a saltwater body], but recently they’ve started to come to Naivasha.”
“The algae, just like the flamingos, shouldn’t be there.”No one knows precisely what the threat is to Lake Naivasha, Kenya’s third largest lake. But it’s genuine, says Kilo, the chairman of an anti-poaching conservation group. Droughts prompted by the changing climate, soaring population in cities fed by the lake, and a nearly 40-year-old horticultural industry that uses the lake for irrigation and drainage have shrunk Lake Naivasha to roughly 10,700 hectares (41 sq. mi.) or half its size two decades ago.
In February, a month before a Circe of Blue reporter visited the lake, three days of heavy rains ended with more than 1000 dead fish. The lake’s water turned red. The government blamed the fish kill on low oxygen levels.
The ecosystem damage in this part of east Africa is another facet of a wave of unmistakable evidence in Africa and every other continent that climate change, population growth, and the pursuit of industrial wealth is starting to buckle the Earth’s basic biology. The principle resource most affected is available supplies of clean freshwater.
Lake Naivasha was a site visited by several journalists following the major UN conference for World Water Day in Nairobi. The lake, which is listed as protected by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, was once an incredible tourist attraction. Development around the lake has resulted in deforestation and now wildlife is disappearing. In the meantime, two of the rivers that flow into the lake, Malewa and Gilgil, are drying up and a thick algal soup develops among the papyrus groves on the lake’s margin. The algae, just like the flamingos, shouldn’t be there.
Low Oxygen, Water Levels Harm Wildlife
Kilo’s office and pier connects to a plot of land along Naivasha known as Fisherman’s Camp, a lovely green spot shaded by scores of acacia trees. The camp has a lodge with rooms to rent and space to pitch a tent on the grass. Camp managers were preparing for the weekend’s Rift Valley Festival, a three-day “musical experience in the cradle of mankind,” according to promotional flyers.
Field manager Moses Parmat said that changes in Lake Naivasha’s wildlife and water quality have affected the camp’s ability to draw international tourists. “Ninety percent of what attracts tourism has gone down,” Parmat said. Domestic visitors still come to Naivasha as a refuge from Nairobi’s congestion, but they do not bring the camp as much income as those from abroad.
Lake Naivasha’s water levels have fallen drastically in recent years, shrinking the breeding ground for microphytes—tiny organisms at the base of the food chain. The lake, which has an average depth of 5 meters, reached an all-time recorded low in December 2009. They usually cover the lake bottom, Kilo said, but an increase in the amount of sediment has reduced the population.
Kilo points from the pier 300 meters inland to show the water’s recession. The most affected area is the shallower eastern shore where the water retreated three kilometers. Now in many parts of the lake the first growth of papyrus is too far away for the birds and marine life that breed there.
The fluctuating lake levels have devastated hippopotamus pods. In addition to a shrinking lake, much of the hippos’ habitat is being converted to farmland. As a result hippos have become trapped in mud pits around the lake, stranded from a water source and left to die.
“The riparian lands have been taken for farming, so the hippos are not coming,” Parmat said. “We have seen many die. They go to trenches where people get water and die. The Kenyan Wildlife Service traps and moves them elsewhere, but it is still a big problem.”
While the disappearance of birds and hippos from the lake has been gradual, it was the death of 1000 fish three months ago that revealed just how bad lake conditions have become. The kill aggravated the debate between government officials and local activists who are trying to determine what caused oxygen levels to drop, and so many fish to die.
The Battle with Flower Farms
Coming from Naivasha town, a right turn on Moi South Lake Road takes you along the southern shore of the lake. On the left, volcanic Mt. Longonot rises over dusted plains, cacti and acacia trees. On the right, lakeshore topography gradually gives way to a line of three-meter, hedge-fronted fences that partially obscure translucent greenhouses. Every kilometer or so there is a break in the hedge with space for a gated guardhouse and a company sign: Nini Farm, Oserian Flower Company, Kenya Roses, Sher Agencies. Looking through the gates it is possible to see the depth of the compounds. The greenhouses extend hundreds of meters in the distance like perspective lines seeking a vanishing point.
Kenya is the top flower supplier to the European Union. Flower farming is lucrative business, ranking second as a source of foreign exchange behind tourism. The industry earned US$585 million in 2008, according to the Kenya Flower Council, a trade group.
The flower farms provide cut flowers for export, of which 97 percent end up in bouquets in European cities. The farms began locating around Lake Naivasha in the early 1970s, drawn there by the water supply, the high equatorial sun which ensures straight stems, favorable weather conditions for year-round growing and direct air links with Europe. Roses and carnations, which comprise the bulk of the Naivasha operations, can go from Kenyan farm to London florist in 48 hours.
Cont.
Photo © Brett WaltonDrought, flower farms, and pesticides are damaging the already shallow lake... more
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A short entry - AP Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of seabirds caught in the oil slick on a beach on Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island.
As BP engineers continue their efforts to cap the underwater flow of oil, landfall is becoming more frequent, and the effects more evident. (8 photos total)
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.htmlA short entry - AP Photographer Charlie Riedel just filed the following images of... more
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Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Allen warned that the leaking oil from a rig explosion could continue for weeks with dire consequences.
"It potentially is catastrophic," Salazar said. "I think we have to prepare for the worst."
That would mean oil damaging sensitive coastal wetlands and industries, including a vital fishing sector that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Obama initially planned to fly over the affected area by helicopter, but weather conditions prevented the flight. Before his trip, Cabinet officials warned he would find a dire situation.
Officials warn of possible catastrophe
Salazar blamed the explosion that caused the spill on a failure in rig technology intended to prevent so-called blowouts.
"There is no doubt at all here that what has happened is the blowout prevention mechanism at the bottom of the well ... is defective," Salazar said. "While there have been blowouts in the past, we have never seen anything that has been quite of this magnitude."
The well is owned by oil company BP. Lamar McKay, president of BP America, told ABC's "This Week" that the company doesn't know why the blowout preventer failed.
All three officials interviewed by CNN repeatedly emphasized that BP is legally responsible for spill and clean-up efforts. they avoided direct criticism of the company, but said BP must do more to try to cap the gushing well.
Allen called the spill "one of the most complex things we've ever dealt with," and said it was impossible so far to predict how much oil will eventually leak.
"If we lost a total well head, it could be 100,000 barrels or more a day," he said.
BP said two Louisiana communities, Venice and Port Fourchon, will likely be the first places hit by the oil slick. Nearly 1 million feet of booms have been deployed in an effort to protect precious estuaries and wildlife, even as thousands of barrels of crude oil continued gushing into the water. Drilling new wells to stop the flow would take a month or two, and it was unclear if the leak could be contained or slowed before then.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/02/louisiana.oil.spill/index.htmlAppearing on CNN's "State of the Union," Homeland Security Secretary... more
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Updated: May 1, 2010
In the Gulf to help
IBBRC team lending a hand in wildlife response as oil spill hits Louisiana coastline
gulf spill photo
River of oil: 210,000 gallons of oil are spewing out into the Gulf of Mexico. (U.S. Coast Guard)
A team of aquatic-bird rescue specialists from International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) in California has been activated in an effort to support local groups preparing for oil spill impact on wildlife in Louisiana.
The team of four wildlife rescue experts will be led by oil spill veteran and IBRRC Director, Jay Holcomb, who has responded to 200+ oil spills around the world, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The team will be working to support local wildlife groups and other organizations as preparations continue for the potential of wildlife casualties from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
“This is a real team effort between all groups involved,” says Holcomb. “While International Bird Rescue has a great deal of experience at managing large-scale oiled wildlife rescue efforts, our primary role here will be to support local groups and to work together to make sure we do everything we can to minimize the impact on local wildlife.”
As well as Holcomb, the team will include a team veterinarian, rehabilitation manager and capture specialist. Once on the ground, the International Bird Rescue Team will work with local organizations to determine the need for additional deployments in the coming days or weeks.
Team Bios:
Jay Holcomb - Jay has been the Executive Director at International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) since 1988. Since then Jay has led IBRRC’s oiled wildlife rescue team on over 200 oil spill responses around the world, including spills in France, Germany, Spain, Norway, Estonia, Mexico and the Galapagos Islands as well as in the US.
Heather Nevill – Heather is a native of Louisiana and is IBRRC’s Response Team Veterinarian as well as the Veterinarian for IBRRC’s Los Angeles Bird Rescue Center.
Julie Skoglund – Julie is the Rehabilitation Manager for IBRRC’s Los Angeles Bird Rescue Center. She has responded to over a dozen oil spills and recently managed the rescue of over 400 brown pelicans in Southern California.
Duane Titus – Duane is a member of IBRRC’s Emergency Response team as well as a Capture Specialist for California-based WildRescue. Duane is a Facilities and Search and Capture Specialist.
Background on spill
The oil spill involves a deepwater drilling platform approximately 45 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.The drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded on April 20, 2010 and sank on in 5,000 feet of water. More than 100 workers scrambled off the burning rig in lifeboats. 11 workers are missing and presumed dead.
On April 29, the U.S. Coast Guard says torrent of oil is five times larger than previous estimates. The leak is now gushing 5,000 barrels — or 210,000 gallons — of crude oil a day, not a 1,000 barrels that was originally reported. While engineers work feverishly to cap the well, some officials worry the leak could go on for months – potentially becoming a devastating spill on epic proportions.
Bird species at risk along the fragile gulf coast include Louisiana's state bird, the brown pelican. Their breeding season has just started.
According to reports from the National Audubon Society, "Important Bird Areas" or IBAs that could be threatened by the slick include, Chandeleur Islands IBA and Gulf Islands National Seashore IBA in Louisiana and Mississippi; also in Louisiana, the Delta National Wildlife Refuge and Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area.
We've been there before
IBRRC isn't a stranger to Louisiana oil spills. In 2005 it assisted local wildlife rescue groups following the Tropical Storm Arlene. Following the storm, Breton National Wildlife Refuge was hard hit, where thousands birds were in the middle of nesting season. As the storm swept over the area it carried with it light crude oil that had spilled from a nearby oil rig. Even though the spill was only 12-15 barrels, the storm carried it on the waves, which swept over the low island, covering the pelican chicks with oil.
Within days a large warehouse in Venice, Louisiana was quickly converted into a mash unit with 70 wildlife specialists and veterinarians evaluating and medically stabilizing the surviving birds before they could be washed. A total of 959 birds were recovered; all but three were brown pelicans and of these 268 were live chicks.
What you can do to help
As an individual, you may feel you can’t help oiled wildlife. You can. Help the non-profit organizations that help oiled animals in your area. If you live in a coastal area, there is an organization struggling to help them – support it. If you live in California, you can help support International Bird Rescue's ongoing rescue work by donating, becoming a member or adopting a bird.
To report oiled wildlife affected by the Gulf oil spill please call the Wildlife reporting hotline at 1-866-557-1401.
IBRRC has been receiving an outpouring of support and phone calls from people wishing to volunteer to help at the Gulf Oil Spill. To learn how to help, you must contact the BP Community Support Team Hotline at 1-866-448-5816.
Please note: This is voice mail system, so be ready to leave a message with your contact information.Updated: May 1, 2010
In the Gulf to help
IBBRC team lending a hand in wildlife... more
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The Florida Wildlife Hospital received this River Otter in January 2009. He weighed 253g, just over half a pound. He had no injuries, but had become separated from his mother. These babies remain with their parents for up to 6 months. If left in the wild, this little guy would not have survived.
The Florida Wildlife Hospital teach the otter the skills it will need in the wild. This includes swimming lessons. In March the little guy got a playmate when another otter was brought in to the hospital. They then began to learn how to play like otters. In April, a surprise arrival of a third otter, a little girl.
These otters will remain with Florida Wildlife Hospital for a few more months, growing strong and learning all they need to survive in the wild.
Please visit website for more information. The Florida Wildlife Hospital is a non-profit charity.The Florida Wildlife Hospital received this River Otter in January 2009. He weighed... more
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more of these adorable little guys!
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These little guys are so cute I have to share!
These orphaned baby otters are learning how to swim for the first time.
This video was taken at the Florida Wildlife Hospitol, a non-profit organization. http://www.floridawildlifehospital.org/These little guys are so cute I have to share!
These orphaned baby otters are... more
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