Behind the Scenes of Oiled Bird Rehab (Video)

Since the BP oil disaster began nearly two months ago, National Wildlife Federation staffers have spent hundreds of hours on the water off Louisiana, watching for impacted wildlife & helping bring their stories to light. We’re also working to organize Gulf Coast Volunteer Surveillance Teams to expand our network of eyes & ears in the disaster zone.

Once oiled birds are brought to shore in Louisiana, they’re taken to Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, just north of Venice. The birds are washed, rinsed & rehabbed by Tri-State Bird Rescue.

On Wednesday, National Wildlife Federation Naturalist David Mizejewski & I decided to stay on shore for the day. We visited Fort Jackson to get an inside look. As we entered the facility, I took out my Flipcam & just let it roll:

As our tour wrapped up, I caught up with David to get his impression:

Outside the rehab building, cleaned birds are then re-acclimated to the outdoors for 7-10 days before being released away from the disaster zone:

As I type, David is driving us to Myrtle Grove Marina for another day on the water. It’s good know that any wildlife we find will be in good hands.

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For all the latest news on how the oil spill is impacting the Gulf Coast’s wildlife & to learn how you can help, visit NWF.org/OilSpill.