| By Alice
B. Berkner, IBRRC founder
The
search for an ideal cleaning agent
for oiled wildlife was not an easy
one. Plowing through obscure journals
at the the libraries of the University
of California, Berkeley and the
University’s Davis campus yielded
some very interesting and, at times,
appalling information.
 |
After exhaustive study, IBRRC determined that Dawn was the best for cleaning oil from bird's feathers. |
One of the earliest
references I found to cleaning oiled
birds was from 1942 where a mild,
white soap (not named) was used
without success.
Note: I was struck by
the date of this attempt. In 1942
I was a young girl spending summer
at my family’s beach home in
Gloucester, Massachusetts. Mother
was always cautioning my siblings
and I to “stay out of the bunker
oil”. I thought the sticky
goo was a natural part of the environment.
I found out much later that the
wretched stuff was coming from ships
torpedoed off the coast during Word
War II.
Throughout the fifties
and sixties different substances
were applied to the feathers of
oiled birds, some of which were:
mascara remover, butter, lard, powdered
chalk, waterless hand cleaner, acetone,
detergent and various oils. As you
may have guessed, none had the desired
effect. At the time I started ‘scrubbing
ducks’ (1971), the cleaner
of choice was mineral oil. Oiled
birds were placed in a series of
tubs of warmed oil and rubbed until
the polluting oil was removed. Then
came the fun part, a liberal coating
of corn meal ! It was thought that
the corn meal would absorb the mineral
oil leaving the bird clean. That
was NOT what happened! The end result
of this process was a bird resembling
a giant corn-dog! The poor creatures
were left with ruined feathers .
Added to this was the fact that
no one knew very much about keeping
seabirds alive and well in captivity.
The rehabilitation period for those
who did survive lasted for months.
We soon progressed to
the “solvent” stage of
cleaning substances. Solvents removed
the oil very nicely but were deemed
unsafe for wide use. Continual literature
searches revealed that work in the
United Kingdom had shown good results
with the use of a common dishwashing
liquid. Unfortunately, it was not
available in the United States.
The hunt was on! We did find a heavy-duty,
commercial grade, extra-strength
detergent that seemed (at that time)
to work rather well. It was difficult
to rinse out of feathers and was
irritating to the skin of both birds
and humans but it did remove the
most commonly encountered polluting
oils. It was not very easy to obtain
and was expensive. Once again, the
hunt was on!
In the late seventies
we decided to investigate further
readily available detergents. All
testing was carried out on oiled
feathers, not live birds. As I recall,
we used North Slope crude oil. The
detergents we tried were “off
the shelf”. One, and only one,
had us jumping up and down!
“Dawn” dishwashing
liquid was a standout! Oil seemed
to fall off the feathers! Rinsing
was easier than we thought possible.
Once we started using “Dawn”
on live birds, we did not see the
irritated skin we had encountered
with the previous detergent. We
used a very low concentration which
was economical and “Dawn”
was readily available. Its use lessened
rehabilitation time thereby reducing
mortality. I will wager that the
people who developed “Dawn”
and brought it to market NEVER imagined
such a use for it! It was suggested
to me often that I contact Procter
and Gamble in the early years to
let them know how “Dawn”
was being used. I did not have the
nerve! Many people have asked over
the years what we use to clean the
birds. Most are amazed when told
“Dawn” and not some specially
formulated substance.
Space has not allowed
me to discuss all the investigation
that was needed to develop effective
cleaning techniques for oiled birds.
Awareness of what keeps a bird waterproof
to begin with, feather structure,
the function of the preen gland
and other neat things are of vital
importance in the rehabilitation
of oiled birds. Cleaning oiled birds
is not a simple laundry problem.
It is far more complex than a simple
bath. However, its complexity was
greatly diminished in one area with
the discovery and use of “Dawn”
as a cleaning agent for oiled wildlife.
My profound thanks to the chemists
at Procter and Gamble for coming
up with an outstanding product.
Also see:
Dawn's Everyday Wildlife Champions
Information on past Dawn programs: IBRRC and Dawn |
