Dozens of birds undergo cleaning after oil spill in Boston's Muddy River
BARNSTABLE - Staff at the New England Wildlife Center are hard at work cleaning dozens of birds after 100 gallons of oil spilled into Boston's Muddy River earlier this week.
43 birds being cleaned
At the center in Barnstable, staff are working around the clock to clean the 43 ducks and geese.
"Shifting our resources a little bit to back up the hospital. Forty-three is a lot of birds but we're very lucky we have trained teams here washing, two teams today. It's a hard process but we are dedicated to it," said New England Wildlife Center CEO Zak Merz. "Our staff has been here morning, noon and night."
Merz said the recent oil spill is part of a much larger problem, one that the wildlife center has taken seriously, putting together a plan and being ready to jump into action.
"Oil spills are a fact of life. We have a lot of commerce, we still rely heavily on petroleum products. And so it's something you have to prepare for and it's part of the New England Wildlife Center's mission to be there for disaster response and particularly oil spills. We've been with MassDEP, Mass Wildlife, Boston Park Rangers on these type of issues preparing," said Merz.
How are the birds cleaned?
It takes over an hour to clean each bird, using hot water and dish soap. The team joked that it's basically a spa day for the animals. After getting the oil off, doctors will continue to monitor the ducks and geese for a few more weeks before they're released back into the wild.
"The recovery is what makes all of the work, all of the blood, sweat and tears worth it," said Merz. "From seeing those birds out there suffering, when they're cold and shivering and covered in oil to the state that they're in post-wash is just incredibly heartwarming."
MassDEP estimates that roughly 100 gallons of home heating oil was released from the storm drain into the river on Sunday. The official cause of the spill has yet to be determined.