A duck coated with thick crude oil squirmed frantically as two field biologists from Florida examined their newest patient.
Captured by Arkansas Game and Fish Commission agents, the female mallard continued to struggle while her temperature was taken. She also didn’t like the Pepto-Bismol forced down her throat, but the pink medication may save her life by protecting her digestive system from inadvertently swallowed oil.
Nearby, in a large, covered cage, a female beaver nursed her kit, which was born just hours after six people - using several plastic kiddie pools - had washed the tarry oil from the 35- to40-pound mama.
The duck and beaver currently reside at a warehouse in Sherwood, where a wildlife rescue operation is under way. On Friday, biologists were also treating 21 turtles, a raccoon and 10 other ducks, all victims of the oil spill in Mayflower.
At the warehouse, white sheets cover cages and kennels. The atmosphere is one of hushed voices and dim lighting, the primary goal being to keep these wild creatures calm while in captivity.
A ruptured pipeline belonging to Exxon Mobil is to blame for the oil that gushed along neighborhood streets in Mayflower on Good Friday and into the area near wildlife-rich Lake Conway. Officials said Friday that the lake itself remained oil-free.
Crude oil, which contains the most dangerous chemicals found in gasoline, is toxic. Many of the chemicals are neurotoxins, which means they affect the brain. And benzene has been linked to adult leukemia and other cancers. Some of the toxins can be absorbed through the skin.
Animals, especially those with oil-coated heads, are at great risk when exposed because they often ingest the toxins.
Even those rescued and cleaned may not live long. And there’s not much research into long-term health effects, said Louisiana field biologist Lexi Anderson.
Thus far, at least 27 oily birds and mammals have been captured by Arkansas Game and Fish authorities. Those include mallards, wood ducks, turtles, bluewinged teal ducks, the beaver and a raccoon.
That count was taken Thursday, however, and more animals have been rescued since then. A current number wasn’t available Friday.
“It’s sad, but once they’ve gotten covered with this oil, they’re not hard to catch,” noted Game and Fish spokesman Keith Stephens.
At least 14 birds and mammals have died since becoming coated in the sludge, according to a news release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Those include ducks, turtles, a coot and nutria.
The biologists treating the rescued animals come from the Gulf Coast, and are therefore experienced in treating wildlife injured or sickened by oil spills. They are affiliated with Wildlife Response Services, which is based just outside of Houston.
On Friday afternoon, two Florida biologists, Jessica Johns and Kevin Church, carefully examined the duck that had just arrived at the Sherwood facility.
For Johns and Church, the most important element of their early assessment is determining whether an animal is too stressed or traumatized to be washed immediately.
Although the duck was scared and struggling, she didn’t show signs of being physiologically stressed, which meant the cleaning process could begin.
The biologists donned blue gloves, long aprons, rubber booties and then taped the wrists of their white jumpsuits closed. Both wore safety glasses.
Next, they rubbed down the duck with cooking oil, which helps loosen the thick and extremely sticky crude oil. The mallard was then put back into a kennel to let the cooking oil take effect.
Meanwhile, the biologists filled five metal washtubs with warm water. They poured Dawn dish-washing detergent into four of the tubs, with the first tub getting the most amount.
The idea is to move an animal from one tub to the next, with the last tub serving as the rinse portion of the cleaning.
The frightened mallard, its head and body completely blackened by the oil, panicked when placed in the first tub. It settled down only after a cloth hood was placed over its head.
The hood serves two purposes. It protects the duck’s eyes, which have been coated in gel to help keep out the toxic oil. And it seems to have a calming effect, as well, Johns said.
As she spoke, Johns vigorously swished her hands in the water while Church held the mallard in place.
“We agitate the water under the feathers to break up the oil,” Johns explained.“We’re already seeing color, so that’s good,” she added, referring to the quickly blackening water.
The biologists moved the duck from one tub to the next. When they reached the fourth one, they removed the cloth from the duck’s head, using Q-tips and small sponges to remove the oil from its beak and the area around its eyes.
By this point, Church’s and Johns’ gloves were stained black.
They placed the mallard in the final tub and used a hose with a light spray to wash off the duck’s body.
“All right, baby girl,” Johns said, pulling the mallard out of the water. “You’re still an oily mess, but you’re less oily.”
The duck will require additional washings before it is free of the oil, Johns said, adding, “Our goal is always one wash, but sometimes it can take several.”
She put the duck in a drying room with a brooder lamp, explaining that the mallard would be left alone until the next day. That’s because putting too much stress on an animal can do more harm than good, Johns said.
The cleaning process is extremely traumatic for wild creatures, who already are suffering from the sickening effects of the crude oil, she explained.
Biologists keep an eye on an animal’s stress level by monitoring its heart rate and watching its eyes. Too much blinking indicates that a bird has reached its limit.
Throughout the duck’s journey from tub to tub, the nearby beaver moved anxiously about her cage while her kit mewed and whimpered.
The beaver was capturedWednesday. The next evening, biologists took it to the Little Rock Zoo, where a veterinarian injected it with a sedative.
The drug didn’t knock out the beaver but served to calm it, Anderson said.
It wasn’t until biologists were washing oil from the beaver that they realized she was pregnant.
When the rescue crew arrived at the facility Friday morning, the beaver had given birth to three kits. Two were stillborn. The third was nursing and appeared to be doing well.
It wasn’t possible to determine why two of the kits died, or if their deaths were related to the oil spill, Johns said.
The birds and mammals will stay at the Sherwood facility until they’re deemed ready for release. Once clean, it usually takes 10 days of preening before the ducks are able to regulate their temperature and are, once again, waterproof.
To tell whether the ducks are ready to be released, biologists will spritz them with water. If the water beads, the birds are once again capable of surviving in the wild.
Arkansas Game and Fish officials will be responsible for releasing the animals, Anderson said.
While the biologists work to save mammals and birds, a professor from the University of Central Arkansas is on another mission: treating oil-coated venomous snakes.
His process involves soaking the snakes - most of them cottonmouths - in water spiked with dish detergent.
The reptiles are now living in plastic containers with wet sponges. Each time they rub against the sponges, more oil comes off, said Ben Cash, who specializes in herpetology and stress physiology in reptiles and amphibians.
“I’m not a wildlife rehabber,” Cash said Friday. But when the crew hired by Exxon Mobil didn’t want to handle poisonous snakes, Arkansas Game and Fish officials asked Cash if he could treat the reptiles.
“Most of the snakes have perked up pretty good,” Cash said. “This stuff’s coming off at a pretty good rate.”
Asked why anyone would bother to save venomous snakes, Cash replied, “Because they are.” He explained further: “It may seem silly. But they are a part of our ecological system and heritage in the state of Arkansas. Folks in Arkansas, they understand the place of a cottonmouth in the system.”
Those who find wildlife injured in the oil spill can call the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s wildlife hot line at (800) 440-1477.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 15 on 04/07/2013