POSOW Preparedness for Oil-polluted Shoreline POSOW cleanup and Oiled Wildlife interventions OILED WILDLIFE RESPONSE MANUAL in partnership with POSOW is a project co-financed by the EU under the Civil Protection Financial Instrument developed in cooperation with ISPRA, Cedre, Sea Alarm and CPMR and coordinated by REMPEC a regional Centre of the Barcelona Convention Disclaimer All material produced under POSOW is available free of charge and shall not be used for any commercial purposes. Any amendment, review, and update of the material produced under the project shall be authorised by POSOW’s Partners and shall refer to the origi- nal document developed under the project. POSOW’s Partners do not assert that this material is faultless and make no warranty, nor assume any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of this manual. POSOW’s Partners do not assume res- ponsibility or liability for any direct, indirect or consequential da- mages from the use of this material. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrie- val system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electro- nic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of POSOW’s Partners. www.posow.org Also available on POSOW website: Manuals, PowerPoint Presentations, Posters, Video, Brochure and Database of volunteers. OILED WILDLIFE RESPONSE MANUAL Authors: The Oiled Wildlife Response Manual has been prepared by the Sea Alarm Foundation in consultation with all project partners. The authors are grateful for the contribution of the CVFSE (Centre Vétérinaire de la Faune Sauvage et des Écosystèmes), France and WWF (World Wildlife Fund), Finland. Publication: March 2013 Legal deposit upon publication Printed in Malta, by Progress Press Co. Ltd. Progress Press holds certification for the Forest Stewardship Council Chain of Custody standard. Cover photo: This means that the product comes from a forest that is well managed according to strict © Sea Alarm environmental, social and economic standard. 3 Presentation of the project The project for Preparedness for Oil-polluted Shoreline cleanup and Oiled Wildlife interventions – POSOW, coordinated by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) was co-financed by the European Commission under the Civil Protection Financial Instrument, to improve preparedness and response to marine pollution in the Mediterranean region. By providing training courses and material to civil protection professionals and volunteers, in cooperation with local competent authorities, the project aims at improving the effectiveness of emergency response to shoreline pollution fol- lowing an oil spill in European coastal countries of the Mediterranean Sea. It is implemented by REMPEC and the following partners: the Centre of Documen- tation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (Cedre), the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Sea Alarm Founda- tion, and the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR). Purpose of the manual This manual is one of 4 manuals produced in the framework of the POSOW project (the others are Oiled Shoreline Assessment, Oiled Shoreline Cleanup and Oil Spill Volunteer Management). This manual is designed to help teams of volunteers to understand and implement field wildlife response operations which have been assigned to them by authori- ties in charge of the response. The document is divided in two parts: Part 1: background, general principles of oiled wildlife response and presentation of wildlife response actions and tasks which can be undertaken by volunteers Part 2: technical sheets to be used in the field and on the work floor The manual is designed for volunteers and all wildlife responders who: → are working at onshore wildlife response operational sites → have little or no previous knowledge of wildlife response → may undertake certain wildlife response activities on land and on the shoreline → may potentially be in contact with oil and wild animals. A number of oiled wildlife response activities should not be undertaken by vo- lunteers as they require more in-depth training and experience to be conducted safely and effectively. Throughout this manual, it will be made clear which wildlife response tasks POSOW-trained volunteers may undertake and where they may need to work under supervision of trained experts. 4 Page n° Table of contents 7 PART 1 - GENERAL PRINCIPLES 8 Oiled wildlife response 9 The use and position of response volunteers 10 Jobs for volunteers 11 Vulnerable wildlife in the Mediterranean 18 Health and safety for volunteers 19 Health and safety on the oiled shoreline 20 Health and safety in a rehabilitation facility 22 Search and collection of animals 25 Animal transport 26 Animal arrival and reception 27 Intake and triage 28 Pre-wash care and stabilisation 31 The washing process 32 Post-wash care and waterproofing on pools 33 Release 34 What to expect as a volunteer 35 PART 2 - FORMS AND GUIDANCE DATASHEETS 36 Managing the early days of a wildlife response datasheet 1 37 Capturing live animals datasheet 2 38 Setup and layout of a forward holding centre datasheet 3 39 Overview of oiled wildlife rehabilitation datasheet 4 40 Working in the arrival and reception area datasheet 5 41 Medical record form datasheet 6 42 Holding a bird datasheet 7 43 Tubing a bird for rehydration datasheet 8 45 Daily routine – stabilisation datasheet 9 46 Daily routine – pre-wash care of stabilised birds datasheet 10 47 Setting up and running a command centre datasheet 11 48 Equipment for pre-wash care and stabilisation datasheet 12 49 Animal housing datasheet 13 50 Dealing with live oiled sea turtles datasheet 14 51 Contact details for incident assistance datasheet 15 53 PART 3 - FURTHER INFORMATION 54 Glossary and acronyms 56 Bibliography 58 Useful websites 5 6 PART 1 GENERAL PRINCIPLES Oiled wildlife response 8 The use and position of response volunteers 9 Jobs for volunteers 10 Vulnerable wildlife in the Mediterranean 11 Health and safety for volunteers 18 Health and safety on the oiled shoreline 19 Health and safety in a rehabilitation facility 20 Search and collection of animals 22 Animal transport 25 Animal arrival and reception 26 Intake and triage 27 Pre-wash care and stabilisation 28 The washing process 31 Post-wash care and waterproofing on pools 32 Release 33 What to expect as a volunteer 34 7 Oiled wildlife response Some marine animals, such as marine and cleaning and rehabilitation in specia- Volunteers being coastal birds, sea turtles, seals and otters lised facilities, or alternatively ending briefed on arrival are extremely sensitive to oiling. This is suffering by euthanasia). Sometimes, because these animals use the water sur- circumstances and weather conditions face (where oil floats) to rest, dive through do not allow active mitigation, or health WRCO from above to feed, or to break through and safety considerations (which come © from beneath to breathe. The effects of first at all times) can even prevent acti- oiling may be lethal and many animals vities from being undertaken at all. affected by the oil will die at sea. Howe- Amongst the greatest challenges of ver, a certain number of oiled animals wildlife response is the question of how (dead or alive) may arrive at the nearest many animals will be affected, at what coast. Depending on the circumstances scale resources (manpower, experts, this could range from only a few animals equipment...) will have to be mobilised, to hundreds or thousands if the oil spill and how to deal with public/media expec- occurs in the middle of an important habi- tations. Especially in the first days after tat and season. Large numbers of ani- the spill, important decisions have to be mals arriving ashore may cause a serious made and it will take time before a wildlife challenge to the affected country and this response can become operational. If in needs special consideration as part of the those days animals already start coming oil spill response activities. It needs an ashore, they need to be taken care of by integrated oiled wildlife response which nearby responders. These responders is best is planned within the framework could include volunteers, if well-coordina- of a local or national oil spill contingency ted and supervised. plan. An oiled wildlife response includes any activity that can be undertaken to deal This manual describes what a group of with wild animals that are/may be affected volunteers could establish and how to by oil following a marine oil spill: do so in the case of live animals coming ashore during an oil spill, focusing on birds Pro-active measures to minimise the → as these are likely to be affected in larger impact on wildlife (removing the oil numbers. This manual and associated before it reaches sensitive areas, pro- training will lead to basic knowledge and tecting these areas by keeping the oil skills that volunteers should have to be out, or taking animals, nests or eggs able to respond in self-coordinated groups away from the threatened areas, by or work under supervision of professional disturbing through hazing or capturing/ wildlife responders. This material can be collecting them). used to start developing local capability in → Measures to mitigate the effects of countries that aim to establish some level oil on animals (attempting capture, of wildlife response preparedness. 8 The use and position of response volunteers The work of volunteers is crucial for the situation one or two volunteers from the labour intensive activities of a wildlife res- group need to take a leadership role to Volunteers being ponse. The more trained volunteers are, ensure that all activities are at least well- instructed in a temporary the more valuable their contribution to coordinated and resources are used opti- wildlife rehab centre the success of an operation will be. The- mally, in close cooperation with, and under refore it is always worthwhile to invest in supervision of the authorities in charge.