Included are the bird's age and size and the length of exposure to the oil, she said. 'How long will the birds survive that have been cleaned and released? We don't know yet,' Hemley said, explaining it depends on a variety of factors. The report states BP's Deepwater Horizon spill is not responsible for all dead birds. Of those, 442 were alive and 'visibly oiled.' Another 633 were found dead, and 109 of those were visibly oiled. Fish and Wildlife Service numbers, rescue officials have collected 1,075 birds. Watch whether BP is keeping workers quiet about birdsĪccording to Wednesday's U.S. Hemley said it could take up to three years to determine the spill's total impact on wildlife. 'But every situation is different, and it is too soon to fully calculate the impact the Gulf spill will have on the long-term viability of populations of many species in the region.' 'In many cases, WWF believes there is value in trying to clean and rehabilitate wildlife, especially if productive, viable adult animals can recover from exposure to oil,' the release said. The fund issued a statement earlier this week saying its 2002 remarks could not fairly be applied to the situation in the Gulf of Mexico, where researchers have estimated 500,000 to 1.7 million gallons a day have spewed from an underwater well. In that incident, a sunken tanker dumped about 20 million gallons of oil off the Galician coast. The statement spotlighted a similar statement in 2002 from the World Wildlife Fund, which said it was reluctant to advise cleaning birds after the Prestige spill off the coast of Spain. 'According to serious studies, the middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under 1 percent,' Gaus told the magazine. Silvia Gaus of the Wattenmeer National Park said it was more humane to euthanize the birds because they will suffer a painful death regardless of whether the oil is scrubbed from their feathers. You have to weigh where you can have your best success,' said Ginette Hemley, the World Wildlife Fund's senior vice president for conservation strategies and science.Įarlier this week, a German biologist painted a less rosy picture in an interview with the magazine Der Spiegel. In the case of the brown pelican, removed last year from the endangered species list, it may be the only way to save the entire lot. To others, cleaning a bird soaked with oil from the Gulf of Mexico is the only chance it has for survival. (CNN) - Some experts see it as a well-meaning flight of fancy. Expert cites examples in South Africa, Oregon, California where cleaning birds worked.Brown pelican, endangered until last year, of particular concern in Gulf cleanup.German biologist opposes cleaning birds because survival rate is lower than 1 percent.Groups reluctant to advise cleaning birds in 2002 say remarks don't apply today.

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