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Plastic Kills Seabirds

Our world is changing. We are experiencing shifts in climate and in weather patterns that manifest in unnatural events of catastrophic magnitude, killing hundreds, even thousands of wild animals.

These events are increasing in frequency and in magnitude, globally.

Because such events are considered natural disasters, there is typically no government-based support for rescue missions, leaving such efforts in the hands of non-government organizations and charities.

Response must be swift if lives are to be saved. There is no time to scramble for funding when hours, even minutes, can mean life or death for a struggling animal.

The Wildlife Emergency Response Fund was established to provide rescuers with timely monetary aid to respond rapidly and effectively to unexpected events such as natural disasters and disease outbreaks.

The Wildlife Emergency Response Fund is a project of EarthWays Foundation, a registered 501(c) (3) non-profit public charity. Donations are fully tax-deductible.

History

The Wildlife Emergency Response Fund was established by a team of international wildlife rescuers who have, over the decades, witnessed numerous natural disasters and their toll on wildlife. They are familiar with the frustration and anxiety that comes with realizing the only thing preventing animals from being saved is money – the funds to deploy a sufficient rescue operation. This is their story:

As wildlife rescuers, we are on the front lines, receiving initial reports of ill or injured animals. Because of this, we are among the first to see trends in nature and in wild populations, and often the first to alert authorities of significant events. Over the last few decades we have witnessed numerous natural disasters and mortality events. What is unsettling, is that they seem to be on the rise. What’s worse, there is no established plan for response.

Since the mid-1990′s, disturbances and changes in the environment, causing widespread wrecking and mortality of marine mammals and birds, have increased and intensified.

In 2010, when this was written, hundreds and hundreds of California brown pelicans were turning up dead or dying along the California coast. Climate change and reduced food supply was to blame, according to the official report from resource managers.

This mortality event was a repeat of what rescuers experienced 12 months prior – a massive die-off in adult brown pelicans with unusual weather to blame.

During both events, local rescue groups became so overburdened by the epidemic numbers of pelicans in need of care they had to close their doors. Hundreds of starving pelicans remained in the wild with no one to help them.

In October, 2009, thousands of seabirds – loons, grebes, scoters, and murres – began washing ashore in droves along the Washington and Oregon coast – wet, cold, and dying. They were coated in a soap-like product.

It was a race against time. Along the cold Pacific North Coast, the birds would only be able to survive a few hours.

With no organized response by officials, locals did their best to retrieve birds from beaches. Soon, the nearest wildlife facility in Astoria, OR was overrun with patients. International Bird Rescue (San Francisco, CA) stepped in, agreeing to care for a few hundred animals.

With that, Duane Titus and Rebecca Dmytryk (WildRescue) mounted a response mission, calling upon the Oregon Humane Society, PETCO, a private foundation, and the Coast Guard. Faced with vast stretches of beaches, littered with dead and dying birds, they were limited in what they could do. In the end, through the collaborative effort, about 500 birds were saved.

Sadly, officials estimate more than 10,000 seabirds perished in the event.

Why? Because there was no immediate source of funding to deploy a rescue operation sufficient enough to handle the hundreds of miles of coastline to recover the thousands of drowning birds.

What was the cause of this mortality event?

At first, scientists were puzzled – the birds were soaked to the skin, like they’d been in an oil spill. It turned out to be the same by-product of a species of algae that caused a mass stranding of seabirds in Monterey, CA just two years earlier.

In November, 2007, nothing like it had been seen before. The ‘sea foam’ drowned hundreds of marine birds. With no help from officials, again, the rescue response was left up to the local wildlife organizations. They did the best they could.

Such events will undoubtedly repeat. All it will take is warmer than usual ocean temperatures, low salinity, and choppy, windswept seas. What is more alarming is that some of these anomalous events seem to be recurring with such frequency that they are almost seasonal, as is the case with domoic acid along the California coast.

Looking back, had there been the equipment, the manpower, and financial backing in place when these disasters hit, thousands of animals could have been saved.

Looking forward, we are sure to experience environmental changes and disruptions of entire ecosystems that will cause massive wildlife casualties and it is time to be prepared. It is time to build a war chest to support large-scale wildlife emergency response capabilities.

And so, the Wildlife Emergency Response Fund was created.

We hope you will see this worthy of your support. Click HERE to contribute to the fund.

A living timeline of events and news article:

September, 2010: News: Climate change: threat to flying squirrels. (News: 1)

August, 2010: Sea otter decline possibly linked to changes in climate. (News: 1)

August 2010: Climate change and global warming. (News: 1, 2)

2010: U.S. State of the Birds Report

January 2010: East Coast: Pelicans fail to head south. (News: 1)

December 2009: Pelican wreaking and mortality event. Oregon and California. Thousands of CA brown pelicans birds impacted. Weather and reduced food supply was determined to be the cause. (News: 1, 2, )

October, 2009: Unusual bloom of algae off Washington state causing a widespread mortality event. Over 10,000 seabirds perished. (News: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

December, 2008: Pelican wreaking and mortality event. Oregon and California. Thousands of CA brown pelicans birds impacted. Weather and reduced food supply was determined to be the cause. (News: 1, 2, 3)

November, 2007: Unusual bloom of algae in Monterey, CA causing hundreds of seabirds to wash ashore. Report. (News: 1, 2)

Spring, 2007: Significant mortality event involving California sea lions, pelicans, dolphins, and whales caused by domoic acid. (News: 1, 2)

April, 2006: Domoic acid sickens and kills pelicans in Southern California. (News: 1)

March, 2006: Seabird mortality event related to weather and food supply. (News: 1, 2)

May, 2005: Mortality event involving California sea lions and dolphins in Southern California. Domoic acid blamed. (News: )

April, 2004: 20 sea otters dead in Morro Bay – domoic acid blamed. (News: 1 )

May, 2003: Mortality event involving California sea lions and dolphins in Southern California. Domoic acid blamed. (News: )

2003: Study reveals sea otter deaths related to cat feces. (News: 1)

February, 2002: Large mortality event involving California sea lions and pelicans caused by domoic acid. (News:)

2001: Unusual mortality event in Monterey, CA involving pelicans and other seabirds. Domoic acid was detected. (News:)

2000: Significant mortality event involving California sea lions caused by domoic acid. (News:)

1998: Unusual mortality event along the California coast involving California sea lions was linked to domoic acid. (News: 1)

1998: Looking into America’s largest marine dead zone. (News: 1)

June, 1993: Mass mortality event involving young California brown pelicans. El nino and scarce food supply blamed.

April, 1992: Scientists warn, global warming means wrenching change at an unprecedented pace. (News: 1)

1991: Unusual mortality event in California involving pelicans and cormorants. This was the first well-documented case where domoic acid was to blame. (News: 1)

1988: NASA’s James Hansen testifies on climate change. (News: 1)

1973: Interesting article on pollution and its toll in Florida waters. Blue-green algae. (News: 1)

Related information:

2009: EPA to set limits on excess nutrients that cause harmful algal blooms