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5 pelicans covered in oil found near Santa Barbara, no spill in sight
Five brown pelicans were found partially covered in oil near Santa Barbara beaches this week, but no oil spill or sheen has been reported in the area.
Two birds were rescued Tuesday by a seabird rehabilitation volunteer near Elwood Beach in Goleta, and three others were spotted Wednesday near East Beach in Santa Barbara. Only one of those three was rescued. The rescued birds were not injured and will be transported to International Bird Rescue in San Pedro for cleanup before being released back into the wild.
The Coast Guard and state agencies found no evidence of an oil spill after searching on the ground and in the air. Officials will continue searching the area through the week. The Coast Guard contacted offshore oil platforms in the area and found none had transferred fuel or oil before the birds were found.
"The focus of the Coast Guard and state agencies is to find if there is, in fact, a place where there is an abnormal amount of oil these birds could have gotten into," said Trent Kelly, a Coast Guard spokesman in Los Angeles. He said oil seepage is common in the area, but it's usually thin and tends to evaporate before reaching shore. "It's not uncommon to find small globules of oil on beaches, but that's typically not going to ... endanger seabirds."
14 Jul 2011
C Quednow
Location: Santa Barbara, California - Map It
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No cure for this sick cockatoo
Looking the worse for wear, this sulphur-crested cockatoo has been visiting an Avalon home for the past month.It is in fact the kind of bird WIRES advises people to take to the vet, so that it does not spread a deadly disease to other birds.
The cockatoo has been visiting Tanja Zelenko’s balcony, and she said it appeared unable to eat and compete with the other cockatoos. She said a second bird displaying the same broken beak and missing feathers had also been seen last week. “He was so beat up, we called him Nigel from the movie Rio,” she said. “I don’t usually feed birds, but this one we had to feed. He was really tame and gentle.”
WIRES rescuer Mandy Beaumont said the disease, psittacine cirovirus, or beak and feather disease, was incurable.
She said euthanasia was the only humane way to treat the affected birds because it was highly contagious and led to a slow, painful death by starvation.
14 Jul 2011
D Nicastri
Location: Avalon, New South Wales, Australia - Map It
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Dead dolphin found in Shaw's Cove
A 7-foot long dead dolphin washed up dead in Shaw's Cove on Tuesday afternoon, according to Laguna Beach police. The Pacific Marine Mammal Center identified it as an adult female bottlenose dolphin.
A lifeguard reported that a dolphin was "not looking right" in the water, according to Marine Safety. He noticed that dolphin made a 180-degree turn when it got near the rocks and saw it kick. The Pacific Marine Mammal Center was notified of a potential rescue. Less than 10 minutes after the call, he said the dolphin changed to a belly-up position in the water. A few moments later it washed ashore.
The center responded immediately to the call about 12:30 p.m., so the dolphin was not in the cove for very long, said Director of Animal Care Michele Hunter.
The dolphin was dead when center officials arrived.
13 Jul 2011
J Clay
Location: Laguna Beach, California, USA - Map It
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OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS STORIES
Photo courtesy of The Guardian, Week in Wildlife
West Nile Virus Confirmed at Liberty Park (Twinsburg, Ohio, USA - Map It)- Infectious salmon anemia: a ticking time bomb?
- Border fences pose threats to wildlife on US-Mexico border, study shows
- In the north-east of Moscow Ornithologists have discovered the rare bird species (Translation disclaimer)
