BP oil spill to bring catastrophic damage to Brown Pelican population

It is day 37 of the BP oil spill  so far releasing over 39 million gallons. Oil slicks and sheens are covering 28,958 miles, an area as large as the state of South Carolina. With these staggering statistics, the future of the Brown Pelican looks bleak.

The Brown Pelican, pelecanus occidentalis, is typically four feet long with a wing span that can extend over seven feet. The birds are strong swimmers, graceful fliers, and have long lives. The oldest Brown Pelican on record lived to 43 years of age. They dive beneath the water's surface to hunt and forage.

In the early 20th Century, Brown Pelicans, slaughtered for their beautiful feathers to adorn women's hats, led to the creation of the first national refuge; the National Wildlife Refuge System put into effect by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903. During World War I, the birds were killed by commercial fishermen who thought the birds were interfering with their fishing. In the 1940's, with the introduction of DDT and DDE, 90% of the population of Brown Pelicans died within the next 20 years. By this time the population had suffered dramatically, and in 1996, avian botulism in the Salton Sea almost brought the birds to extinction.

The Brown Pelican has had to fight fishing hooks puncturing their eyes, gaping holes in their pouches which have caused deadly infections, and fishing lines wrapped around their wings and legs. At one time it was estimated that 85% of pelicans met up with fishing lines or hooks at sometime in their lives.

In the 1970's the Brown Pelicans were listed  and protected under the Endangered Species Preservation Act.

German animal biologist, Silvia Gaus for Wattenmeer National Park along the North Sea in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein estimates the survival rate of Brown Pelicans affected by the oil spill will be under 1%. She opposes cleaning the birds. Gaus gained experience after the cleanup of Pallas, a ship that spilled 90 tons of oil in the North Sea on October, 1998. There were over 250,000 birds killed; they froze, drown, or died from stress. Thousands were cleaned with in a few days and released, but only 600 lived.

Once covered in oil, the birds use their bills and tongues to remove toxic substances from their feathers. According to Dr. Gaus, even though the oil tastes and smells terrible, the birds continue to preen their feathers; the fluffy down keeps them warm and able to fly. " Their instinct to clean is greater than their instinct to hunt, and as long as their feathers are dirty with oil, they won't eat," states Gaus. She further explained how the catching and cleaning of the birds create too much stress, and by the time they are captured the birds have ingested coal solutions forcing biologists to treat the birds with Pepto Bismo hoping to prevent the poisonous effects of the oil. Gaus says that doesn't work because there is already too much kidney and liver damage.

The IBRRC works on stabilizing the birds before attempting to clean them. "Dawn" liquid detergent is used to wash off the oil and is non irritating and gentle. The organization claims survival and release rates as high as 100% and as low as 25%, but averages 50 to 80% including variables.

" Pelicans are an indicator species," states Jay Holcomb, Executive Director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center. " They tell us when there's trouble in the environment."

So far 300 birds, the bulk of them identified as Brown Pelicans and northern gannets have been found along the US Gulf Coast during the first five weeks of the BP oil spill, and 31 have survived. They are currently being counted as casualties because of the proximity in time and location to the spill, but are being tested to confirm results. The mortality rate is expected to rise sharply since this is the middle of breeding season.

Ironically the birds were removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species on November, 2009, but will continue to be protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Lacey Act. On November 11, 2009, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar stated, " At a time when so many species of wildlife are threatened, we once in awhile have an opportunity to celebrate an amazing success story. The Brown Pelican is back."