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In addition to the indoor needs, there
was a need for a huge area outdoors, where pens
and pools could be constructed for birds to use
after they were cleaned, while they were in the
process of bringing up their waterproofing. Space
was also needed outside for washing all the bird
pens and mats, as well as a large area for toilets,
parking and fish thawing. In all, over 6 acres
were utilized outside of the Salt River facility.
In addition to the facility needs,
other logistical concerns needed attention. Some
of the initial challenges were to fly team members
in from around the world, have food and lodging
secured for them as well as local transportation
to get team members to and from the rehabilitation
center. Meals for the team were catered to the
center and the team quickly took over a moderately
sized hotel in downtown Cape Town. The South African
Red Cross provided much needed volunteer support
such as tea and snacks and throughout the project
provided a fully staffed first aid trailer.
The Cape Nature Conservation
took over supply acquisition and inventory control,
assisted in volunteer management and scheduling,
transport of birds, fish, garbage and fish waste.
The last month of the rehabilitation program,
Cape Nature Conservation supplied fifty full-time
staff members to help with the feeding and other
jobs at the Salt River facility. We were in need
of a consistent and reliable work force due to
many volunteers leaving to return to college.
As with any large-scale disaster,
there's intense media attention and with oil spills,
the wildlife aspect is always the most sought
after story. International Fund for Animal Welfare
brought in their media and logistics teams to
facilitate press and administrative duties. The
IFAW media team handled getting daily media releases
out, as well as arranging facility tours and special
events. The logistics team worked on securing
medical equipment, team transportation, food and
lodging.
As with any large-scale disaster,
there's intense media attention and with oil spills,
the wildlife aspect is always the most sought
after story. International Fund for Animal Welfare
brought in their media and logistics teams to
facilitate press and administrative duties. The
IFAW media team handled getting daily media releases
out, as well as arranging facility tours and special
events. The logistics team worked on securing
medical equipment, team transportation, food and
lodging.
Relocating Non-oiled Penguins
Simultaneous to the oiling of thousands
of penguins, Dassen Island, home to the largest
breeding colony of African Penguins (approximately
55,000), was in danger of being oiled. The trajectory
of the slick was projected to hit Dassen Island
and threatened to oil tens of thousands more penguins.
Without being able to remove the oil from the
water, local officials realized that vulnerable
areas of Dassen Island were soon to be covered
with bunker oil and a majority of the nesting
birds there would be oiled.
In an unprecedented, preemptive capture
program, the Cape Nature Conservation organized
a massive collection and relocation program. In
the initial days after the spill, oil had not
yet come ashore on Dassen Island but looked like
it might, given the current wind conditions. In
an effort to prevent thousands of penguins from
getting oiled the birds were rounded up from their
nests and burrows and placed in well ventilated
boxes, previously stockpiled on the islandand
ferried to the mainland (30 minutes by ferry).
Once on the mainland, they were trucked eight
to ten hours to the town of Port Elizabeth –
where they were released.
Hoping that it would take most of
the birds ten days to two weeks to return to Dassen
Island, they took this calculated risk that ge
potential disaster. Although the cost was substantial,
the operation saved thousands of birds as Dassen
Island did, in fact, become fouled with oil. Only
a few birds were oiled after their return to the
islands.
Caring for Orphaned Chicks
Although the relocation program saved
thousands of adult birds, numerous eggs were left
in burrows when oiled adults were captured and
removed from the islands. Many chicks were also
rescued and brought to three different rehabilitation
facilities while still others that were hidden
in deep burrows were inaccessible and lost. The
actual chick and egg mortality is not known. Separate
from the thousands of adult and sub-adult penguins
in care at both the Salt River and Table View
facilities, there were 2,126 chicks (2 weeks to
12 weeks of age) that were admitted and cared
for in several different facilities. The Salt
River rehabilitation center admitted about 1,000
chicks for rehabilitation.
Most were kept in a pen, approximately
40 square feet, complete with an indoor pool,
and constructed of mesh panels with beach sand
as the flooring substrate. Eventually chicks were
moved to outside pens with large pools for waterproofing
and exercise. The approximate stay of the chicks
in captivity was about 3 weeks. There were also
two private residences that were used for chick
rearing that housed the 1,100 chicks for rehabilitation.
Once these chicks were close to fledging age they
were brought to the Salt River or Tableview facilities
for final waterproofing and evaluation prior to
release.
The Rehabilitation Efforts
The rehabilitation of oiled birds
is a mammoth and unique effort for a number of
reasons. Since the event is usually catastrophic
in nature, the likelihood is that a large number
of animals will become affected at once, as was
the case in the Treasure spill. The sheer number
of birds that were taken to the Salt River and
SANCCOB Table View facilities in the first week
alone were staggering. The coordination of such
a rehabilitation effort is complex, multifaceted
and daunting in that not only do the animals need
immediate and intensive care but the infrastructure
for staff and volunteer support must also be put
into place, simultaneous to the actual animal
care. The urgency in not only to care for the
animals, but to see the entire operation and make
provisions for moving the birds through the rehabilitation
process.
During oil spill responses, directors
and trustees must use a heard health approach
in managing the effort. This means that the best
achievable care for the most number of birds is
the priority and triage of individual birds is
needed. In the case of the Treasure Spill, because
there was such a substantial portion of the entire
world population oiled, the priority was given
to adult birds because they were the breeding
birds of the population. For example, priority
had to be given to the adults over the chicks
or juvenile birds during the evacuation, relocation
and rehabilitation program. The triage aspect
of herd health dictates the euthanasia of birds
that have intensive care needs such as substantial
injury or disease and certainly for animals exhibiting
symptoms of conditions which might be contagious
such as E. Coli and Salmonella. Critical evaluation
by trained veterinary staff is imperative when
working with such a large and vulnerable group.
With respect to the herd health approach,
care was taken to minimize the possibility of
major disease outbreak during the rehabilitation
effort by ensuring good ventilation in the facilities,
not overcrowding the caging and paying close attention
to cleaning protocols for cages, floors, food
and pools.
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