By Neil Farrell

It’s a job everyone hopes they never have the opportunity to do, but nevertheless, taking care of oiled wildlife in the event of a major spill requires a ton of cooperation and practice.
Last week, members of the statewide Oiled Wildlife Care Network converged in Morro Bay for an oil spill drill at Pacific Wildlife Care’s triage facility located on the Morro Bay Power Plant property.
Van Masvidal, who was running the drill for OWCN, explained that they had teams on the beaches pretending to capture oiled wildlife — mostly birds but also marine mammals — and transport them back to the PWC center.
Meg Crockett, PWC’s president, explained that if there were to be a spill, “we would be the place to treat the birds.”
The scenario they were using for what was essentially a “desk-top” drill, was an ruptured pipeline spilling oil into in San Luis Bay at Avila Beach, something that actually happened in the early 1990s.
“This facility [PWC],” Masvidal said, “is a primary response facility. Any spill on the Central Coast would have the birds brought here, with marine mammals going to the Marine Mammal Center.”
That facility is right next door to PWC and is also a “triage” facility used to stabilize animals for transport to the Center’s main facility in Sausalito or some other facility for more long-term care.
The Oiled Wildlife Care Network, based at U.C. Davis and encompassing 28 individual rescue groups, works closely with the State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response or OSPR (see: www.wildlife.ca.gov/OSPR) and dates back to 1994.
Though OWCN has partner facilities from Crescent City to Sea World San Diego, but PWC is the only facility from Santa Barbara to Monterey and while licensed to care for oiled birds, the facility takes in lots of sick, injured and orphaned wildlife — from skunks, to possums, raccoons and even an occasional fawn — staying busy year round.
The Morro Bay drill brought some 72 volunteers from all over the state and had a scenario of an oil pipeline running from San Luis Obispo to Avila Point rupturing and leaking into San Luis Bay. Plus two commercial fishing vessels were leaking diesel fuel into the water.
Masvidal said they were simulating picking up oiled animals — using Morro Strand Beach instead of Avila — and conducting such activities as “hazing,” or making noise to scare birds from the area so they too don’t get covered in oil.
The drill included transporting the birds to the center where they would undergo intake exams, have blood work done and be checked for injuries. A vet exam would determine the course of treatment, which Masvidal said might include feeding — through a tube if necessary – hydrating the animals and again checking for injuries.
“When they are stable,” he explained, “they get washed down here.” Part of the conditions for re-release back into the wild, which is their ultimate goal, is whether the bird or seal can swim, are undamaged and can preen their feathers or fur, an important method of keeping waterproof. Such a course of treatment usually might last 72 hours for each animal, possibly longer.
“We’re doing the whole thing here [during the drill],” he said, “but fast-forwarding through 72 hours to get through the whole drill.”