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An
Injured Bird's
Best Ally
In November
when the Prestige oil tanker split and sank just off Spain's Galician
coast, Chris Battaglia (B.A., Psychology, '90) left his post at the
Northern California International Bird Rescue Research Center and hopped
on a plane bound for Pontevedra, Spain.
Hours later he surveyed a shoreline littered with abandoned shovels
and buckets. "People had tried to clean the water and rocks along
the coast but there was just too much oil," he says. "It looked
like a war zone."
Battaglia, the center's education director, joined a handful of international
experts who came to save potential casualties: hundreds of gulls, gannets,
razorbills, and Atlantic puffins, weak and weary and covered in oil.
As the SFSU alum explains it, bird feathers work like shingles on a
house. When the feathers are interlocked, they keep an aquatic bird
waterproofed and warm. When covered in oil, feathers collapse the layer
of warm air underneath. Oil-covered birds can't regulate their body
temperature or dive for food. Without intervention from wildlife experts,
survival is highly unlikely.
In Spain, Battaglia set up a makeshift bird hospital at an abandoned
fire station, converting the men's room into a bird-washing station.
He directed a team of 10 Spanish carpenters in building shelters and
cages, and taught the town's volunteers the proper techniques for cleaning
birds.
If a bird's weight and blood pressure proved stable, it was scrubbed
with dish washing detergent as it proceeded down a line of tubs filled
with warm, clean water. Often the wash process had to be repeated. A
high-pressure hose helped remove stubborn patches of oil.
Rainstorms persisted as the team treated and monitored birds 15 hours
a day. Battaglia struggled to keep outdoor shelters covered and watertight.
The stormy weather made search and rescue missions impossible, but 600
birds made it to shore and underwent treatment during his two-month
stay. In January, 180 of these birds were rehabilitated and released.
As an undergrad, Battaglia planned on a career in family counseling.
One volunteer experience at the 1988 Shell oil spill in Martinez, Calif.,
during his junior year and he knew he'd found his calling.
The next year, Battaglia flew to Alaska to help birds in the Exxon Valdez
oil spill. "My professors were very understanding," he remembers.
"They faxed notes to me so I'd be ready for final exams."
Although he wishes more birds could have been saved in Spain, other
rescue operations have proven more successful. In June 2002 when the
bulk ore carrier MV Treasure sank off the coast of Cape Town, South
Africa, Battaglia helped treat and release 18,000 African penguins.
For more information: www.ibrrc.org
--Adrianne Bee
 
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