International Bird Rescue is a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates injured aquatic birds, most notably seabirds affected by oil spills. Founded by Alice Berkner and members of the Ecology Action, including veterinarian James Michael Harris, D.V.M. in 1971 and based in Cordelia, California, the group has developed scientifically-based bird rehabilitation techniques and has led oiled wildlife rescue efforts in more than 200 oil spills worldwide, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where International Bird Rescue co-managed oiled bird rehabilitation efforts in four states with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research. Formerly known as International Bird Rescue Research Center, the organization cares for an estimated 5,000 birds annually at two rehabilitation centers, the Los Angeles Oiled Bird Care and Education Center and the San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center, that also serve as primary care facilities for oiled birds in the event of a spill in California. Common bird species treated include brown pelicans, common murres, western grebes, Pacific loons, and a variety of gulls, herons, and other waterfowl. International Bird Rescue is a member of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), which is managed by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine on behalf of the State of California.
History
1970s On January 19, 1971, two Standard Oil tankers, the Arizona Standard and the Oregon Standard, collided near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, resulting in a spill that covered 50 miles of coastline with 2,700 cubic tons of crude oil. About 7,000 birds were oiled by the spill. Volunteers collected nearly 4,300 of them, mainly western grebes and scoters, and brought them to makeshift rehabilitation centers. Only about 300 were released—in part given the lack of established oiled bird rehabilitation practices at the time. "There were dying birds everywhere and no one knew what to do. It was as horrible as you can imagine," Jay Holcomb, International Bird Rescue's former executive director, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2012. "It was then that we realized there needs to be an organized attempt for their care." While documented rehabilitation efforts of oiled seabirds in California dates back to the 1940s, the 1971 San Francisco Bay Arizona & Oregon Standard spill, and the 1969 Santa Barbara/Union Platform A spill that preceded it, spurred new efforts to create permanent rehabilitation facilities and programs, as well as to monitor seabird mortality resulting from spills. Alice Berkner, a retired nurse and animal lover who assisted in oiled bird rehabilitation following the Standard Oil accident, became the first Executive Director of International Bird Rescue—originally called International Bird Rescue Research Center—in May 1971. The fledgling organization was housed in a small space above the Berkeley Humane Society, and in 1975 moved to Berkeley's Aquatic Park on a $5-per-year lease from the city. The early ethos of the organization was one of seabird conservation through partnership with the oil industry. In 1977, International Bird Rescue signed its first oil spill response contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. "My attitude was not that of the stereotypical environmentalist of that time, but that of a consumer who accepted responsibility for what could result from petroleum consumption on an individual and even species level," Berkner recalled. "I felt it important to develop a cleaning technology that could lessen impact on oiled, endangered and threatened species, and that by responding to spills involving more numerous species, precarious populations of birds would not be subject to experimentation when oiling occurred." Through the 1970s, International Bird Rescue was responsible for a number of important journal articles.
1980s and 1990s By the mid-1980s, the organization had become a leading source of expertise in the wildlife rehabilitation field, pioneering new techniques and co-publishing such guides as Rehabilitating Oiled Seabirds: A Field Manual (1986). Advancements made included best practices for washing oiled birds, warm water pool therapy, and net bottom cages to help prevent sternum and hock lesions in diving birds, auks, and other aquatic species. In 1986, Jay Holcomb became executive director of the organization. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the organization's oiled wildlife response efforts extended well beyond California. International Bird Rescue staff spent six months managing three bird centers and two search-and-collection programs in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, where 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound, killing between 100,000 and 250,000 seabirds. Exxon Valdez was the first major spill where field stabilization and transport were utilized extensively in oiled wildlife care. Following the Exxon Valdez incident, Congress passed and President George H. W. Bush signed into law the U.S. Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990. Among other requirements, the law mandates more stringent oil spill contingency planning by industry that included oiled wildlife emergency response. OPA, along with California's Lampert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act, led to new programs to collect data on mortality rates and develop seabird restoration programs. Several bills passed in California in the mid-1990s led to the creation of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), formed as part of the Office of Spill Prevention and Response and administered by the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. New rehabilitation facilities, such as those currently managed by International Bird Rescue, were designed to prevent disease transmission among avian patients and to minimize historic challenges associated with animal husbandry.
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