Media Scrum Descends on Oiled Wildlife Station
The press conference started at 10 am today; CBC, CTV, Global TV, the BC Ministry of Environment and The Province newspaper were there. And so was I!
Chris Battaglia of Focus Wildlife gave an introductory interview and explanation of the nine-step protocol for dealing with wild animals in an oil spill situation. Media were there to see an oiled Canada Goose undergo the wash and rinse process. I was thrilled to see that since my volunteer shift on Monday, four geese had already made it through the process and were preening themselves calmly in one of the outdoor pools.
The wash and rinse process took about 45 minutes. As I’ve said here before, it can be one of the most stressful things a wild animal ever has to endure in its lifetime. The handlers are experienced (the one you’ll see in the video below helped wash the 20,000 penguins caught in a spill off the coast of Africa) and extremely gentle with the animals. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’re wild, frightened, and bent on escape.
Click here to see a YouTube video I posted showing a portion of the rinse process; it’s Chris Battaglia’s voice you can hear in the background. Go ahead and laugh; I’m still figuring out the technology, and as a consequence shot this video, uh, sideways. Just turn your head a little.
Janice Dickie of the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC (WRA) was there as well, and commented to me later that since Wabamun and the two BC spills of last summer, the media have become much more aware of the issues surrounding oiled wildlife response and much more sophisticated in their questions. With the amount of coverage this morning’s event will generate, there will be no way for Canada’s federal environment ministry to avoid addressing the idea of a ‘polluter pay principle.’
WRA is calling upon the Environment Canada Minister and his government to review the Canadian Wildlife Service’s management of oiled birds, which lags behind that of the United States and most other developed countries. In the US, for example, the government has produced a 90-page protocol document that is handed to spillers in the immediate aftermath of a spill, detailing exactly what is expected of them in terms of response, cleanup, wildlife rehabilitation, cost coverage and restitution. Also in the US, oil companies are required to pay a barrel tax into an emergency response fund. Neither such practice exists in Canada.
WRA is asking the Canadian government to develop an effective national strategy to deal with all oiled wildlife — not just species at risk — and to support a ‘polluter pay principle’ that includes oiled wildlife response as a regular component of overall spill cleanup.
As media saw clearly today, this job, like perhaps most others, can only be done properly by trained and experienced professionals if it is to be safe, effective and successful for everyone involved — including the animals.