Oiled birds released

25.02.2013

Some of the oiled sea birds that have been cared for at our Mallydams Wildlife Centre in Sussex have been released back into the wild.
 

More than 300 birds – mainly guillemots but some razorbills - were taken into our care after being contaminated with Polyisobutylene (PIB) or butyl rubber, a colourless synthetic rubber, three weeks ago.
 

They were mainly being cared for at our West Hatch wildlife centre in Taunton, Somerset but 65 of the birds were taken to Mallydams Wood in Hastings, East Sussex.

Staff from Mallydams yesterday took 22 guillemots to the beach at Pett Level, close to the wildlife centre, where they were released back into the wild.

Bel Deering, manager at Mallydams Wood, said:

Our staff have done a fantastic job in cleaning and caring for these birds and now some of them are strong and fit enough to be released back to the wild where they belong.

They arrived in quite a weak state and needed quite a bit of care and attention to get them rehydrated, fed and strong again before we could wash the sticky substance off them.

The remaining birds at Mallydams will continue their rehabilitation before also being released back to sea in the coming weeks.

The first birds covered in the oily substance were found on 29 January then numbers increased dramatically over the next few days.

The vast majority of the birds were found on beaches in Dorset - mainly Chesil Beach, near Portland, and Weymouth. There were some found further along the sussex coast in Folkestone, one in Cornwall and a couple in the Isle of Wight. There have also been reports of birds being found as far away as Ostend, in Belgium, covered in the same sticky goo.
 

Sadly many of those found on the beaches were dead, but RSPCA inspectors and volunteers did their best to save as many as they could and take them to West Hatch.

The Environment Agency took a sample of the substance and sent it for testing. The results showed it was Polyisobutylene.

Staff at the wildlife centres initially tried to clean the substance off the birds with washing up liquid, but this did not get the substance off. Subsequent attempts to use margarine were a lot more successful.

We can't do it without you

We can only carry out rescues like this with your help

• To help the RSPCA rescue animals like these, please text HELP to 78866 to give £3. Text costs £3 plus one standard network rate message.
   
• Find out more about the work of our wildlife centres. 

Video by kind permission of Steve Trewhella