GOWRS partner interviews
In our mission to create a global oiled wildlife supplementary tier 3 service, we’re interviewing the incredible organisations participating in the Global Oiled Wildlife Response System project and form part of that service.
The intention is now to transition the project to a global oiled wildlife response service, with a guaranteed four-person wildlife assessment team available as a supplementary service through OSRL. This interview series with each of the network partners is to raise awareness of the amazing organisations that have been collaborating on this.
GOWRS Partners Interview Episodes 1 - 10
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Transcript
Paul: Hello this is Paul Kelway, the Wildlife Preparedness and Response Manager at Oil Spill Response Ltd. As part of our five-year Strategic Plan for Wildlife Emergency Preparedness and Response, we are aiming to improve response capability in collaboration with the network of leading wildlife response organisations that have all been participating in a multi -year project with the Global or Wildlife Response System or GOWRS project. The intention is to set up a global or wildlife response service – a guaranteed four-person wildlife assessment team as a supplementary Tier 3 service through OSRL. To raise awareness of the incredible organisations that have been collaborating on this and will be part of that service, I will be hosting monthly conversations we with each of the network partners and to launch this, I'm delighted to welcome Valeria Ruoppolo, the Director of Aiuká in Brazil. Valeria is a wildlife veterinarian with a master’s degree and PhD in Comparative Pathology. She is an experienced oiled wildlife rehabilitator and has been a key member of the management team in oil spill responses all over the world.
Paul: Valeria, thanks so much for speaking with me today.
Valeria: Thank you very much, Paul, for the invitation. It's great to be here. Thank you.
Paul: Great, so maybe let's begin by me asking you to briefly describe Aiuká as an organisation. What is your mission and where and how do you carry out your work?
Valeria: So are you guys based in Brazil and we worked out of two main locations in San Paolo and Rio states. We work with port authorities and the oil industry and trustees through managing, planning and training to better prepare to respond to emergencies affecting wildlife. Our mission is to offer services for planning, management, training and response to wildlife in need. And we provide a qualified team with technical excellence and highly developed skills to apply these best practices for both the welfare of the individuals and also for species conservation.
Paul: So there must be some really good examples of the kind of work that Aiuká has done that perhaps illustrate what your mission is? So is there a particular story that comes to mind that you could share of the work that you've done?
Valeria: One response or one fact that comes to mind that we were called in due to our expertise and not necessarily the work that had to be done? So in 2019 Brazil had a big incident with a dam rupture, inland Brazil. So originally, we worked with marine species and on the coast, but with the fact that this incident happened inland Brazil and it affected mostly domestic species, Aiuká was called in to work in that response by our expertise for managing animal responses and not necessarily being an oil spill, so I think that the fact that we do have crisis management response training just gave us a whole opportunity to work and help these animals with this huge response that we've been working on that to this day. We've been two years in that response. It became a project, but to me the most emblematic thing is that we were called into work and helped these animals because we were trained in Animal Response Management. Basically so I think it’s really important to us that our experience gives us new opportunities and not only focus on wildlife, oiled wildlife response, that's what I mean.
Paul: So you have to have the flexibility to apply those emergency principles in different scenarios. So it's your experience with oiled wildlife enabled you to help in this instance, and like why is probably you learned things in this instance that you then can take back into other parts of your work.
Valeria: Yeah, they were going to bring in a whole new package, let's say of lessons learned into oiled wildlife response on the coast.
Paul: So what are the types of specialties that you have within your team to be able to carry out these different responses?
Valeria: So our main line of work, as I say it is oiled wildlife response and the oil production and transport in Brazil mainly works offshore so we do work with a lot of ports in an onshore facilities, but the fact that we need to go offshore and respond offshore most of the time, it gives us a whole different skill set that we need to have to be able to be on the same safety standards as the oil industry out there. So we need to have underwater escape training, we need to have basic safety training for platforms and all of our team is trained on ICS, which is what's demanded here by the authorities in Brazil for oil spill response. So our team not only works out in the field but also is trained to work within the command post depending on the situation.
Paul: Plus all that work in Brazil, Aiuká has also been a partner in this multi-year Global Oiled Wildlife Response System project since the beginning. So from your perspective, having been involved in that and I should say you are the Vice Chair of the GOWRS Steering Group as well at the moment, what do you see is one of the most significant outcomes of that project, that initiative?
Valeria: It's been really interesting to get to know all the different organisations and the project has been going for quite a few years now and we have been understanding how the different organisations work, but the product that was written for the IPIECA guidelines, the documents that were produced in 2014 and then 2017. I think the internationally agreed protocols are really a big step forward and a big symbol of our project. I really like the products that were developed for best practices.
Paul: Great point and they are great resource is you know that are freely available. So yeah, very well said. So we're now in a position where we're hoping to transition this from a project to an actual live service to a supplementary service Tier 3 assessment team. So what do you see is the sort of the real value of that service? Why is it so important for wildlife response preparedness?
Valeria: Having a global reach, I believe is a great step forward for our field and the fact that the companies will have readily available and better preparedness for wildlife response is a big step forward and we obviously do need the buy-in from the industry representatives because they need to implement and develop the culture within their own companies. But it will help them too. The fact that they have ready advice and prompt advice from our groups, it will help with proper planning and development of local Tier 1 and Tier 2 globally and that attached to all the company's activities independently of where they are based. So I think it's a great step forward.
Paul: So providing a sort of very genuine additional service, but also that service helping to drive further in country preparedness as well. Great. What about for Aiuká as an organisation? What would it mean for your work and for you as an organisation if this became a live service?
Valeria: So we will have dedicated people to international response. We are already a Tier 3 responder in association with other organisations like International Bird Rescue. But today we don't have dedicated people for international response, and I think that's a good way forward and it will improve our capability outside of not only Brazil but also outside of South America. And I think that also a great development for Aiuká is the fact that we will keep implementing world’s best practices as they are evolving around the world back into our own organisation, and I think that's very significant for us.
Paul: It's a great point, thank you. Well finally our next featured GOWRS partner in our interview series will be Focused Wildlife based in the US and Canada. So just to finish off, can you say something that you admire, particularly about them as an organisation?
Valeria: I enjoy working with people from Focus and I think that we evolved as organisations more or less at the same time and they came up first before Aiuká did, but we have worked in different situations together and with the whole wide of different species, from penguins to swans, to eiders, and so going from South all the way to the North. And I always working with Focus wildlife. I have this sense of working collaborative and being part of a team so I really enjoy working with them because we feel comfortable working together and so yeah, that's what I enjoy about Focus.
Paul: Great, thank you. Well, I look forward to talking with them next time, but for now for Valeria, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me today. And yeah, wishing you all the best.
Valeria: Thank you very much Paul. It's been a pleasure, so thank you for the invitation.
Paul: You're welcome. Bye for now.
Valeria: Bye.
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Transcript
Paul: Hello, this is Paul Kelway, the Wildlife Preparedness and Response Manager at Oil Spill Response Ltd. Welcome to this third episode in a series of interviews with wildlife response organisations that have been participating in the Global Oiled Wildlife Response System Project. The intention is now to transition the project to alive, global oiled wildlife response service. A guaranteed four-person wildlife assessment team that will be available as a supplementary Tier 3 service through OSRL. To raise awareness of the incredible organisations that are collaborating on this, I'm hosting monthly conversations with each of the network partners and this month I'm joined by JD Bergeron from International Bird Rescue. A graduate of Washington University in Saint Louis, JD brings his passion for birds and nature together with 20 years of nonprofit leadership as the CEO of International Bird Rescue. An unconventional problem solver, JD has worked in microfinance, economic development and served in the US Peace Core. He's also the co-founder of a bicycle fundraiser in Zambia to raise money for girls’ empowerment and HIV/AIDS. JD thanks so much for speaking with me today. Really appreciate your time.
JD: Thanks Paul. Glad to be here.
Paul: So I'm jumping straight in. Just wanted to start by asking you to briefly introduce International Bird Rescue. What's your mission and where and how do you carry out your work?
JD: International Bird Rescue is 50 years old this year. It started in April of 1971 in response to a big oil spill in the San Francisco Bay area. Our mission is to inspire people to act toward balance with the natural world by rescuing water birds in crisis. So while what we're doing inside our two wildlife clinics in California is very hands on, we hope that that our work and sharing it broadly inspires people to pick up that piece of trash or to help with a beach cleanup or something like that. All of us every day sort of taking those little actions that make a big difference.
Paul: Congratulations on the 50 years. I know International Bird Rescues came up a couple of times in our previous interviews as well. Is there a specific story of the work that Bird Rescue has done that really highlights the organisation. How it works and the value it brings?
JD: It would be a remiss to not mention that you spent some time with Bird Rescue yourself, Paul. I think that one of the real special things about this organisation is it has been sort of a launching ground or a building up of experience for lots of folks. Especially amongst this larger GOWRS network.
A good example of the work that we do is actually a response we're doing right now. It's a non-oil incident in Long Beach Harbor. A nesting colony estimated about 3,000 elegant terns. Elegant terns are a kind of seabird that you've probably seen before, but maybe never, never thought to identify. They're really good at hunting for fish, and they nest colonially. The colony seems to have been disturbed about a month ago in its better habitat, a wildlife refuge and moved on completely, finding a couple of barges in the harbor. They crowded on. Good for safety, not so good for the chicks. Once they start running around and they're falling off the edge into the water. In normal environment going into and out of the water is pretty normal, but these birds cannot get back up the two feet distance between the water level and the barge. It has been about 10 days now of really intensive field operations scooping up the birds from the water because they get quite cold and once they get weak and cold they very quickly will die if not intervened on. We had admitted somewhere near 500 elegant tern chicks. What's really special about them, as well as their parents take pretty exceptional care of them for the first six months of their lives, meaning we have to do hand feeding. Some birds can be taught to eat out of a dish pretty quickly and easily, which makes the work a lot easier. These birds were being hand fed assisted feeding two to four times a day. Rising up, increasing the staffing, bringing in more volunteers, finding partners this is all kind of the lifeblood of what we do. We have a really good experience for practicing a lot of the protocols of a spill response without having the complexity of the contamination.
Paul: It's interesting that you're highlighting an example of a non-oil related incident, but essentially the expertise that international Bird Rescue has, and I’m certainly proud to be an alumni of the organisation in that sense, that there is really this sort of linkage between understanding how to care for these birds non-oil related incidents and then how those transfer to oil spill response and vice versa and how that expertise is relevant for so many different types of emergencies.
JD: Absolutely, and we've been using a slightly altered version of Incident Command. We have a structure, we have our daily briefings, everyone knows their role, span of control. I think it's a little bit more complicated obviously because we are self-funding this, there is no responsible party. This is something that nature conspired and perhaps some of human influence as well, but it is really good practice for what we do. I think it's also one of the things that Bird Rescue brings to the table in a spill response. We work with these birds daily every day of the year. A broad variety of aquatic species, the exact kind of birds that get oiled during a contamination event. We get a lot of practice with them year-round.
Paul: And obviously this is an incident in your backyard, so to speak, but the “international” in your name has been very much a core aspect over the years because also there's been a, as you say, a connection to the international community and a lot of support that the organisation has given to international responses to oil spills all over the world.
JD: That's absolutely right. “International” was in the name from the very beginning. Our two wildlife centers that run year-round are both in California. We also have a turnkey facility in Alaska serving that state, but the organisation has responded to spills, I think, it's somewhere around 235 incidents around the world thanks to a partnership with IFAW based in the UK, we were able to do a lot of international spills fully 10 years ago or so. We're hoping to actually fill the gap that was created when they stepped out of that work in the coming years because I think what comes next is going to be more complicated. Fortunately, there are more organisations like the members of GOWRS and others who have sort of taken up the charge of developing Oiled Wildlife Response expertise. But the next big spill is quite likely to be in a place where none of us is actually based.
Paul: It’s a good point, and it's a good segway to talking about some of that international collaboration because, as you say, International Bird Rescue's been one of the partner organisations in the multi-year Global Oiled Wildlife Response System Project. So from that perspective, what do you see is one of the most significant achievements of that initiative of the work that that group has been doing over the years?
JD: Yeah, you know there, there is a lot of diversity among the organisations - universities, non-profits, for profits. But I think one thing we all share is (that we have) very high ambitions that are always outstretching our resources. While we all knew each other, I don't know that any of us had sat down on this level and been able to really come up together with strategies, Most of us had worked together many times over, but the idea of building a road that makes that stuff easier that you don't have to solve it ahead of time. The tightened relationships can do nothing but good. What really excites me is that here is ten organisations plus Sea Alarm providing guidance. What does it look like when there's a hundred of them? And how does the core of what we've built make that possible so that expertise is built in a place like Nigeria where a lot of oil is being moved around and maybe there isn't even an oiled wildlife rehab well developed there so how do those things come together? So I feel like the collaboration, the partnership, the good spirit, that this has allowed us to work on is really the most valuable thing.
Paul: I think that's a really important point. I mean, you're talking about the collaboration between these ten organisations and Sea Alarm. And ultimately, there's this wider intention too that overtime there is this outreach, this consideration of organisations that don't have that expertise, and how this network of experienced organisations can support and enable those organisations.
JD: Yeah, I lean into the history of Jay Holcomb, my predecessor, who I know you knew very well. The idea was go to a place, leave the expertise, leave the knowledge you know, share what you know, get people on a path, and honestly, there are organisations that exist that are as strong and stronger than Bird Rescue now because of that legacy. I think of Aiuká and all the influence of Jay and Valeria spending so much time together. I see her operation when I go to visit and I'm in awe of how incredible it is and what would it look like to have that in another country? What does it look like to build that experience all over the place so that people can clean up when something goes wrong.
Paul: Yes, absolutely. It. It's very much that Tier 3 force multiplier effect in inaction in that sense. It's a really important piece. Building on that, why do you think making this transition from GOWRS as a project to actually being a funded service is so important for Wildlife Response Preparedness?
JD: Yeah, I think I alluded to this a little bit. The diversity of our models we’re all stretched by something. International Bird Rescue is stretched by the fact that we see somewhere around 4000 to 6000 individual birds come in every year. Tri State has the addition of songbirds and mammals. We all have our core business. It is difficult to invest enough to keep moving the needle forward where we're always working on preparedness. But the idea of being able to focus on it and to know that the value is there, the investment is there. We are facing a generation change, really a lot of the folks who were doing this work in the beginning have retired out even most recently on GOWRS, we've had a few changeovers of folks who, after a long, worthy career, have made the decision, you know, to focus on fishing and retirement and that needs to happen. How do we bridge the gap that remains? How do we make sure that there is always going to be people on the growth path, becoming the next sort of big heroes of wildlife response? It can't be on a few key people anymore. It's got to be something that becomes kind of an industry of its own. This investment, this formalisation, I think, allows that depth of bench and succession planning, so that when all the folks who've been doing lots of spills and the number of spills goes down or have retired, those that remain will actually still be able to do as great a job, or even better because of all they've learned.
Paul: Yeah, it's such an important point. I know Chris Battaglia brought this up on our last episode as well and I think you know it's that key question of how to preserve in a way this knowledge and an appreciation that people don't necessarily have that that's quite fragile in the sense that organisations that perhaps have not had that consistent funding and involvement, there's that risk that this knowledge will literally die out at some point.
JD: Yeah, and I would say that one of the challenges here which is even different from oil spill response generally from wildlife response is that the funding usually is considered a bit more discretionary. There are places in the world where it's required to have an oiled wildlife specialist on contract in case of a spill, but that's not unanimously true. This kind of spending is often the investing in animal organisations is usually the thing that is the first to go when oil prices go down, or there's a bit of pressure as we've all seen with the pandemic. Yet, you always want these organisations to exist when when there are emergencies. I think this is this is the whole point of this. This system we're building is something where this can become sustainable. Those of us who have been doing it for a long time share and hopefully bring up others. I feel really committed to that side of it because I think it's the history of what Bird Rescue has done and I am excited to see what does the Angolan version look like or what does the Laotian version look like? How does this grow and develop building local capacity but also with all the learning that's gone through the years.
Paul: So, I asked you about Wildlife Response in terms of the funding - what does it mean for preparedness. What would getting this funding mean specifically for your organisation?
JD: For International Bird Rescue the organisation's current resources get eaten up very easily by wildlife rehabilitation. And we think it's important it's a testing ground. It's how we train up a lot of our new responders. You know, there are people who work and live day-to-day in the clinic aspects. This commitment would actually allow us probably to add staffing, deepen our bench, actually invest in more of that global preparedness work. As I said, the margins are slim. The economics of doing water bird rehabilitation are not great. This is not a thing you do to make a lot of money. It's a thing you do to make a difference and this organisation would benefit from having that additional commitment that would allow us to build up even more on the preparedness side. I would really love to continue building outreach to other countries that don't have any involvement at this point.
Paul: Well said. Let's hope we can continue on this journey of getting it funded. And as we continue our journey of introducing people to some of the partners of the project, our next partner featured on this podcast is going to be the Oiled Wildlife Care Network so could I just finish off by asking you to say something that you particularly admire about the Oiled Wildlife Care Network as a segway to their interview?
JD: Yeah, they are a perfect partner for us to be asked about because we work very closely. Together we actually co-run the two facilities in California and Jay Holcomb, who I mentioned earlier and Mimi Would-Harris, a couple of our staff, were intimately involved in the early stages of what would become the network. I think that what's so amazing about OWCN is that they've taken the rigor and resources and wherewithal of the university system and brought it into something that was nonprofit-led, sort of limping along. You can't really get to a scale without connecting into bigger levels and things and Mike Ziccardi specifically getting involved with NOAA and other aspects of government agencies in addition to state agencies, other universities, etc. The level of collaboration and the ability to build a system that creates more responders, I think that's really incredible. I do admire it very much. The fact that we're one of now, I think 45 plus members in that network shows this capacity to kind of build something that is more lasting than one organisation can do on its own.
Paul: Great, well said and certainly look forward to speaking with them next time. But JD certainly really appreciate your time, especially given that you've got a response going on at the moment as well. Any last comments or thoughts you wanted to share just before we close?
JD: Just that this is such a great moment and opportunity for what is probably a low investment for the big picture. You end up with a sustaining growing network of knowledge that deepens not only the field of those who were already in it, but actually brings more people on board. I'm pretty excited by that, and I hope that next year's Effects of Oil on Wildlife Conference 2022, which we’ll be helping to host, will actually show some of this really directly, so excited. And thank you for involving us, Paul.
Paul: No, that's great. Well I look forward to the conference next year and yeah, wish you and the rest of the team all the best with the with the tern response at the moment. And again, thanks for being with me today. Thanks, JD.
JD: No worries.
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Watch Episode 4: Oiled Wildlife Care Network
Transcript
Paul: Well, Mike, thank you so much for making the time to speak with me today.
Mike: Thank you Paul for the opportunity.
Paul: This is the fourth of our episodes interviewing organisations from the Gowers Project. In the last interview, JD Bergeron from International Bird Rescue introduced briefly the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, but can you perhaps elaborate on that just to introduce the network? What's the mission and where and how do you carry out that work?
Mike: Sure, I’ll be happy to. The Oiled Wildlife Care Network. It's a program based out of the Wildlife Health Center within the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis in California. The Wildlife Health Center is dedicated to protecting the health of conservation of free-ranging wildlife and really, Oiled Wildlife Care Network was the basis for us establishing this wildlife program within the number one veterinary school in the world. So with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, our mission is to provide the best achievable capturing care of oiled, affected animals and so we take the term “best achievable” very, very seriously. So we're always pushing to try to do things better, to learn what we can from incidents from preparedness activities to continue to improve what we do. And how we approach this is what we call our four Rs – Readiness, so emphasising preparedness, if at all possible, developing protocols, doing trainings, drills and exercises, continuing to partner with organisations, etc. We have Research, so we actually fund in a competitive way grants from organisations throughout the world, so we actually have a competitive grants program as well as doing research within the UC Davis staff. Uhm, we have Response - obviously being able to respond immediately for spills anywhere within our kind of response area and then Reaching out - sharing our information with our partners with the public, with schools basically trying to educate where we can. And so, how we do this is we have two different programs within the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. We have our California operations, which is a partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Officers Spill Prevention and Response, and so we're charged with responding anywhere in California. Should there be an oil spill and how we do that as we've partnered with 44 organisations within California, which includes International Bird Rescue, which you just heard from. And so we're responsible for leading wildlife response efforts and training individuals. We actually have over 1,600 people in California. In our database, we can call on at a moment's notice, should a spill occur. Our second arm of the program is our global operations, and so that's providing assistance, preparedness activities, etc both nationally within US, as well as internationally as part of the GOWRS project. So fairly wide mandate and something we're very proud of.
Paul: Oh, that's fantastic. And as you say, it's truly a collaborative effort. I mean with the number of network partners that you have as well, and that linkage between government and non-governmental organisations. There's been many responses and you personally have been involved in many of those as well. Is there an example of that work specifically that you think really illustrates just what the network does and how it carries out that work?
Mike: There are a number of examples on that. As far as how we do it in a collaborative fashion. Probably the most recent example would be the Refugio oil spill that happened in 2015. This was a pipeline that degraded to the point where it leaked oil onto the land and then ran into a culvert into Refugio State Beach which is near Santa Barbara in Central Southern California. It released about 140k to 160k gallons, both on land as well as in the water. It's a region of high environmental sensitivity and high public sensitivity as well, so this is really the region where an oil spill in 1969 actually created US Environmental EPA as well as created the Clean Water Act through the platform, a blowout that occurred in that area, so very high sensitivity and the need to respond. And we were able to respond immediately in that area. It's also a response that had both birds as well as marine mammals that occurred as well, but one of the things I'm most proud of in that situation is at that time we had 33 member organisations. We had 21 organisations that actually provided either staff or volunteers to the effort. We had had more than 150 people involved overall in the Santa Barbara area, but then also caring for birds in the Los Angeles area and caring for marine mammals in San Diego. It really shows the breadth of our program. We utilise three of our 12 primary care facilities. We established three additional stabilisation sites and all of those worked together - both the people, the equipment and the facilities to really show a robust system that can respond immediately to care for animals in crisis.
Paul: That's incredible, and it's really an example of a holistic approach to wildlife response. I mean, thinking of all the elements that are involved and just making sure that they're integrated fully across all these different disciplines that have to essentially work together.
Mike: Absolutely, and that the holistic approach, I mean, that's the basis of both the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. But it's also the basis of the One Health Institute. That's at the school is looking at how animal health, environmental health and human health all interact with one another, and I mean, oil spills are a perfect example of that, where people are in crisis. And if there's not a robust response system to care for wildlife, people are going to put themselves at risk as well. So it's another excellent reason why having a professional, immediately deployable system is so important for effective oiled wildlife preparedness.
Paul: Absolutely. You mentioned about the in-state California response and a more global approach. So as I mentioned at the beginning, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network has been one of the partner organisations in the multi-year Global Oiled wildlife Response System Project. In terms of that work, what do you see as one of the greatest achievements of collaborating at international level and working together on that project?
Mike: There are so many benefits that have happened in the almost decade that we've been working on this GOWRS project. Probably the most important thing is developing a formalised system for worldwide collaboration and coordination. Professional wildlife organizations have met and worked together since the late 80s, early 90s, but really a systematic approach of working together on specific projects. Instead of it being one or two organisations across all 10 to 11 organisations together on different projects -readiness activities, trainings, animal standards. All the core things that are necessary for good preparedness. Working together on those things to share knowledge and experience to make it so that those approaches are not specifically related to, say, North America or Europe. But having those apply no matter what the region is, no matter what the species or taxa is involved, no matter what the environment is. Having that developed kind of at a global approach, and having that with buy-in from all the key organizations I think has been tremendous. And simply working together, knowing how people approach things even outside of the documentation that we've developed and the guidelines and protocols. Better understanding of how people do things. I think it's made each individual organisation stronger as well as made the global community more robust.
Paul: It's an evolution of the network principle in that way. You are also currently the Chair of the GOWRS Steering group. So thank you very much for doing that role. We're at a point now where we're looking at transitioning this from a project to an actual Tier 3 international service. So why do you think it's so important for wildlife response preparedness to make that transition and get that funded?
Mike: We've been working on this now for five to seven years as a project and been very fortunate to be funded as part of the JIP project Joint Industry Program through funding through IPIECA as well as through OSRL. But that funding has been relatively limited and so it has allowed us to do excellent work. But it's been at a funding level where it's things that we can take a portion of our time to work on, but not really solely dedicated on this thing. What additional funding and moving the project into a service provision can do for us is that with that increased investment, it allows each of the organisations, many of which are not-for-profit organisations that rely on charitable donations etc to survive. Having core funding that allows us to bring on additional people or to really have the GOWRS principals be a core part of their jobs. What that does is that GOWRS allow us to have the bandwidth and the freedom to be able to really be ready 24/7, 365 to be able to respond immediately. Right now it's in best endeavours because it isn't a core portion of any of our duties, but having that investment it will allow us to provide the preparedness activities that we think are needed, and industry agrees that are needed in these days, especially post-Macondo where we realise wildlife response is a core element of oil spill preparedness across the board.
Paul: Its really sort of taking that next step and entering this new paradigm where it's really, truly integrated and we can look at the international picture and say, you know, there's some capability, and there's some sort of funded structured systems in place to support not just response but also future preparedness efforts too.
Mike: Absolutely, I think in the past, oiled wildlife response has been this black box. It's oiled animals are collected and given over to the charitable organisations to care for and the cleanup activities and all the other things existed separately and really what we've seen, especially over the past 20 years, is the professionalisation of oiled wildlife preparedness and response and the real need to have it as an integral part of the overall preparedness structure, but then also response. What we don't want is to have oiled animals go into this building and clean animals come in the outside. What we want is to make sure everybody understands what is going on, making sure that the communication is occurring back to the incident management team or whatever, so that again it is a cohesive approach to response at large.
Paul: And I suppose in that regard, I mean, we talked about holistic response and people think of oiled wildlife response, they think of responding to animals after they become oiled. But of course, that integration is also making the most of those strategies that actually prevent that oil in the first place. And that could really only happen with that integration.
Mike: Absolutely. We talk about response activities. Really, it's only if we fail in keeping the oil away from the animals or the animals away from the oil. If animals do get oiled, that's kind of at the end. But what we can do to assist responders in keeping the oil away so providing support for cleanup activities operations. But then also the preparedness side of that and then adding on to try to keep animals away. As far as deterrents as far as preemptive capture. All of those things. The easiest way to care for an oiled animal is for it not to be oiled in the first place, and that's what we want.
Paul: Yeah, it's a really important point. So we talked about what it would mean for wildlife response preparedness. If this transitions to a live service. So this question is about what it would mean for your organisation. And of course, you're at the university. But you're also the director of a network, so I suppose you know it's sort of multifaceted sort of question in that sense. What do you think it would mean for the network?
Mike: I think it would be tremendous for the network currently. With the way the system exists right now, it's myself and a second member of my team that can be involved in the project just because of the activities that we have going on. Our obligations to the State of California, our obligations to those organisations we have contracts with, including National Marine Fisheries Service in the US. But were this to become a service, what that would do is it would allow us to broaden our involvement. So just beyond the one or two individuals within my team. But have it be more of the 12 people that we have working on spill response? But it also is an entry point into our member organizations within California, if they're interested in participating, we could bring a number of those organizations or individuals through the UC Davis involvement to GOWRS to really increase the breadth and the scope of what this service proposal could do. If and when the service proposal does move forward, it could really be a game changer as far as the level of readiness that we have at a global scale for Tier 3 response.
Paul: It's great and we'll certainly keep doing what we can to keep engaging with all our members on that so. The final question here, as people have heard the other podcasts will know, is that we've taken the opportunity to think about our next featured partner in the interview series. So the next GOWRS partner to be interviewed by myself will be Pro Bird, another network in Germany. So just to end, just to perhaps ask you if you can say something about the organization.Is something you particularly admire about Pro Bird.
Mike: Well, I'm thinking about Pro Bird trying to think of. Words that describe the organisation of the people involved and the two that do come to mind right from the start are passion and dedication. It's a smaller organization and again a charitable organization, but just their dedication to animal welfare and Wildlife Conservation issues as a whole I think is unmatched. Sasha Redmond, who has been involved in GOWRS project from the start. He is just so dedicated to the effort. The other thing about Pro Bird is that even though they work with us on oiled wildlife preparedness and response, they have a broad mandate. I mean their education programs. As far as plastics in the oceans, they've generated some really great materials for, you know, younger children teaching them about some of the challenges of pollution. Their work at all different levels. In all different sectors of things that can impact wildlife and care for those animals. It's really wonderful. It is that passion, that dedication that really drive to do what they can to be able to care for animals in our environment, our society. It's just amazing.
Paul: Well, that's well said. I completely agree and I look forward to speaking with Pro Bird next time. Thank you again for taking the time today. I know you wear multiple hats so have a very busy schedule so thanks for chatting with us. Let's continue to have this conversation move forward with our Members and transition the service.
Mike: Thank you Paul for the opportunity and thank you to all of us or all your Members and everything for the tremendous support you've provided for GOWRS to date, and we hope to continue their relationship moving forward.
Paul: Great, thanks a lot, Mike. See you soon.
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Transcript
Paul: So Sascha, thank you so much for joining me today.
Sascha: Hi Paul, thank you for inviting me to this interview.
Paul: Great, well PRO Bird are the fifth interviewee in our series of interviews with the GOWRS Partners. So just to begin with, I wanted to ask you if you could briefly introduce PRO Bird. What is your mission and where and how do you carry out your work?
Sascha: The PRO Bird network started in 2004. Different German animal welfare organisations have worked before separately on several oiled wildlife response campaigns European wide, like the Erica, Prestige, Tricolor oil spills and then in 2004 we had a mystery spill here at the German coast and we found out that it makes more sense to focus our work under one umbrella, especially dealing with authorities, clients, and the media. Of course, that is much easier that way, and speaking with one voice mixing up the teams, gaining experience means having more manpower and equipment. Then finally, PRO Bird was registered in 2014 and accepted as a not-for-profit organisation.
Paul: That's great, so you are a network, but you have this longstanding history of working together. Is there one example of a story that perhaps illustrates the work that you do and speaks to that?
Sascha: Yes, so there are several stories, after all those campaigns. Working with animals in need is always a very emotional issue and people don't like to see pictures of oiled wildlife and dirty beaches and things like that on television or in the newspapers. But it's a good sign to show responsibility by trying to rescue affected wildlife, and after all those years and campaigns, every time you release a clean bird, this is a highlight for every responder, and therefore we always invite new volunteers or local people when we are releasing animals. The moment a former patient is released back to the wild makes people happy, and it shows that the measures that you have done were 100% right. But now coming back to your direct question. I remember that at one oil spill we had a bird, a cormorant, that was already ringed (banded). By checking the ring number, we found out that this animal was oiled and rehabilitated and released six years in England. So, we were saving that life for a second time. That was really a great feeling and maybe this is the one story that I can mention.
Paul: It's a fantastic story and it speaks to, as you say, the importance of applying the right technical standards as well so that we can have those success rates and hopefully see long term survivability of animals as well, and great to have people involved in the release of those animals and see the outcome of all that work.
Sascha: Yes, absolutely.
Paul: Great. Well as well as all the work that you do in Germany and in Europe, PRO Bird have also been a partner in the global oiled wildlife response system (GOWRS) project. What do you see is one of the most significant achievements of that project, of that collaboration?
Sascha: Yes, so working with such a pool of specialised people and organisations provides a unique opportunity of exchanging experiences. Within the past few years, we have had the chance to visit a lot of GOWRS partners in their comfort zones, that means at their rehabilitation centres. Just by visiting their facilities and their equipment and all the long conversations in the evenings and all the discussions, we have learned a lot from each other. Every time, when I am back home and I reflect on the visit, I think - what have I seen? What have I learned? How can we implement parts of that into our system? But it's not just visiting our partners and learning from their experiences. It's also the permanent exchange also within our fantastic GOWRS working groups that raises the quality and brings us international specialists closer together.
Paul: That’s great. It's been a long journey to develop this level of collaboration and now to be ready to transition this project into a live service. What do you see, as some of the most important benefits for wildlife response preparedness of having it now transition into a service?
Sascha: So for us as an organization that's easy to answer. A funded service will give us the opportunity to grow. We can have regular trainings and exercises and that will also raise the quality of courses and we will have to opportunity to bring new people in and maybe to hand over one day our experiences to the next generation of oiled wildlife responders. We are not that young anymore and therefore a funded service will enable us to expand our equipment as well and bring more people into the game. One additional barrier for us as a non-native English speaker is that we have to translate all the materials that we are developing within GOWRS and also within our European network including the technical vocabulary used in trainings and exercises. It's really hard to understand for German staff and volunteers. Therefore it's a little bit of double work for us, but it's worth it.
Paul: So clearly some real benefits as far as really shoring up the expertise that exists today, and hopefully making sure that it remains available in the future. I suppose the second part of that question is what do you see as some of the benefits of the service when we think about an oiled wildlife incident, when we think about what happens when you have a situation involving wildlife?
Sascha: Yes, so I'm working in the exercise working group and we have seen the benefit in some of our exercise scenarios. There are GOWRS Partners in America and South Africa, South America and in New Zealand for example. So in most parts of the world, I think we will be able to respond rapidly and provide recommendations. We have found that it's easy to mix the different groups. If we for example, will have wildlife response somewhere in the Americas, we can mix up the team to best support that specific incident. I think this is a very interesting for the industry.
Paul: Yes, as you say, it's that ability to draw on a pool of experts and essentially create the right team for the right situation. And I know there's been many examples that you've been involved in in Europe where international experts have really been able to add value to those in-country responders and really make sure that they feel supported and that they have the benefit of that experience.
Sascha: So during our discussions found out that we have experts for this, and for that animal species which makes it also very interesting, as you cannot know all the species on Earth as a responder if you are working in Europe, for example. But we have those partners in South Africa or South America dealing with penguins, for example, so therefore we can act very quickly and we can act on different animal species.
Paul: Finally our next featured GOWRS partner will be the RSPCA. In our last discussion we had the Oiled Wildlife Care Network provide a bit of an introduction to PRO Bird. So I was going to ask you if you would be willing to do the same and just say something that you particularly admire about the RSPCA who will be our next guest?
Sascha: Yes, so the RSPCA is one of the oldest and biggest animal welfare organizations here in Europe. They have a lot of experienced staff and inspectors, dedicated animal rescue vehicles and they run several wildlife rehabilitation centres, as well as animal shelters. And in all those years the RSPCA have saved countless numbers of pets, farm animals and wildlife. I very much appreciate that engagement. It's simply incredible.
I think what I also can say about RSPCA is that we met some people from the RSPCA first I think it was om 2003 during the Tricolor oil spill in Belgium and since then our ways have crossed often. We met them again in 2006 during a mystery oil spill in Estonia and then three years later in Norway during the Full City Oil Spill oiled wildlife response. In the aftermath of the response to the Full City spill in Norway, we decided to build up a kind of a European wildlife responders’ cooperation. This was really the starting point here in Europe and the Sea Alarm Foundation that is based in Brussels brought us to a table together and so they asked RSPCA, The Wildlife Rescue Center in Ostend, PRO Bird and some other stakeholders to share protocols, experiences and visions for the future. So we started developing common guidelines, for example, and that led to the EUROWA Project that was co-financed by the European Union in 2014-15. It was the same time that the GOWRS Project got started so very busy days as you can imagine.
The two people that have represented the RSPCA within our group are Adam Grogan and Richard Thompson. I know both since long years and I can say they mean much more to me than simple working colleagues. Adam has a huge knowledge in organising and steering a group and making big step progress with that group. I also very much appreciate his background in mammal species. If you have a question about otters, for example, we will ask Adam. Richard Thompson has decades of background in the care of oiled wildlife and hi knowledge is tremendous. In fact Richard is part of PRO Bird’s Board of Advisors.
Paul: That's right, so there is a formal link between your organisations?
Sascha: Yes, so I'm really looking forward seeing both of them again very soon.
Paul: That's great Sascha. And again, it really reinforces the great relationships that exist and the respect that's there between the different wildlife partners that work together. That's a really great introduction, and I'll look forward to talking with them [the RSPCA] next time. But just before we wrap up is there anything else that you'd like to share before we close?
Sascha: Yes, so I would like to meet all my colleagues again very soon, but coronavirus is a big issue. We had these problems within our European network recently where we had to cancel plans for trainings. We normally would like to have a manager training course in Ostend, Belgium, this month but it's still not clear if it's ok to go there so it’s still up in the air. The pandemic situation is a hard task I think for all of us - all those telephone conferences and this is now almost two years ago that Covid started. So it’s a hard task and I'm really looking forward to seeing everybody again soon.
Paul: Yes, let's hope that we can do that soon. In the meantime, it's great that we can connect virtually, but it's not as good as doing it in person as you say. But Sascha, for now, thank you so much for speaking with me today, and I wish you and PRO Bird all the best for the future.
Sascha: Thank you very much, Paul.
Paul: Bye for now
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Transcript
0:03 - Paul: OK. Alright, Richard. Well, now thanks very much for doing this interview with us. As you know, we've been doing an interview with each of the GOWRS partners over the last year or more now. So really happy to have a chance to chat with you about the RSPCA. And yeah, I guess then the obvious starting point there is just to have you just share a bit about the RSPCA. So, for those that don't know it, what is the RSPCA? What's the mission and how do you carry out your work?
0:36 - Richard: I think most people know who the RSPCA are. It's the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but perhaps they don't know everything about the RSPCA. I think they associate it with cats and dogs, whereas actually we’re much broader than that. The organisation has been around for nearly 200 years. So next year we celebrate our 200th year anniversary and so we're very excited about that. But yes, the RSPCA has been involved mostly with cruelty to start with. So that was the origin of dealing with animal cruelty. In fact, it was horses on the streets of London. And and then they broadened to rehoming animals, cats and dogs mostly. And then in the last 50 years I think they looked at wildlife and thought actually we need to get involved with them as well. So, for the past 40 years I've been involved with the wildlife, so I've been around with the RSPCA say since 1990, well AT Mallydams, since 1996 which is my current job of Mallydams Wood Wildlife Centre Manager [one of four RSPCA wildlife rehabilitation centres in the UK].
1:47 - Paul: That's right. And as you're saying the people might be familiar with the RSPCA from an animal welfare perspective and possibly from domestic animals. But actually, as you say that there are these wildlife centres that the RSPCA runs and so you're the manager of one of those centres. And so obviously we're talking about oiled wildlife response, but what is really the work of Mallydams Wildlife Centre? What kind of wildlife do you care for? And what kind of situations do you respond to there?
2:18 - Richard: We care for all wildlife species, all British and native wildlife, except for deer. But our focus was on seabirds here because originally when 50 years ago when John Goodman [former warden of RSCPA Wildlife Centre in Mallydams Wood] came on to the site, somebody brought him an oiled razor bill and so that’s what set the scene for Mallydams to become one of the centres of excellence for all birds. And ever since then we've kind of pioneered some of the washing, the care and the release protocols involved with oiled wildlife.
2:53 - Paul: Yeah, that's really interesting and it's an important point that RSPCA has this long history of being involved in oiled wildlife response that goes back to the 60s and maybe even further back than that. But you know it's quite a long history isn't it?
Richard: It is. And I think it was probably the Torrey Canyon [1967 oil spill off the SW Coast of Britian] that was the one that woke the RSPCA out to wildlife and oiled birds because we made so many mistakes during that time and we weren't prepared for the the suffering that went on with oiled birds. And so I think that was the thing that we started questioning what we were doing and how we were dealing with them. And then obviously we invested money for research into how to wash birds and then subsequently into how to release them and what the best methods are.
So one of the highlights for me was being involved with a sea cage project and this was a halfway house between rehabilitation and release. And this was conducted in Portland Harbour. And this was a project that was funded through the Wildlife Department. And initially there were lots of sceptics, lots of people thought we were pushing the boundary too far. But actually in the end, we answered a lot more questions than we would have answered just through conventional rehabilitation. And I have to say that one of the biggest successes we've had, it's only recently, and it's a bittersweet success because we had a recovery of one of the guillemots that we released from the sea cage in July this year. So that oiled guillemot has survived 22 1/2 years. And so that's a remarkable thing for a little bird like that. And how many times has that bird bred? It's just remarkable these little birds and and how brave they are, and you know what we do is significant when it comes to that individual bird.
4:50 - Paul: Yeah that's really incredible. And as you say something like that sea cage project where you're really getting a better understanding of some of the challenges and the ability to survive in the long term in what are obviously pretty harsh conditions for seabirds. But obviously to know that all that effort to get them back into a situation where they can go out and thrive and breed in the wild is obviously the goal.
5:16 - Richard: Yeah. And we're not complacent about just one recovery, you know, we know that we have to strive and we have to look into these things further. And as we don't get so many oiled birds now it's even more important for us to be prepared. I think the one thing is that we have this optimistic bias that we never think this is going to happen. And so therefore, we know, as we saw with our European colleagues, the Rotterdam spill, nobody expected a spill involved with 500 swans, yet it happened and those we had to respond and we had to be prepared for that.
5:53 - Paul: Absolutely. Well, and actually that brings me on to I guess just asking you. You've already talked about some of the work that the RSPCA has done over the years in terms of oiled wildlife and oiled wildlife response. But is there a particular response or story of your involvement in this field that further illustrates just some of the work that you do? I know there's been a few different incidents and responses over the years.
6:20 - Richard: Yes, I've been involved with quite a few locally. There's the Tricolor [2003 oil spill in the French Channel]. So there was a massive response in Belgium, but actually not many people knew that the RSPCA were involved because it hit outside of the channel as well. And so we had nearly 500 birds from that response from that oil spill that was all self-funded, that was business as usual. So we had to find the funding for that. We never got any compensation. We never got any insurance money from that. So we had to really fund, it was self-funded but you know we've had some recoveries from then, good recoveries 5 or 10 years later. So we are measuring our success on those recoveries as well. And of course, I was involved with the Sea Empress, the large spill that was in West Wales [in 1996] and that was a big response for the RSPCA and we had Industry funding that. So we had a relationship with Industry in that case. So you know we're quite aware of how to how to manage a big spill.
7:27 - Paul: Yeah, it's interesting a couple of really big incidents there you were mentioning and I think you're also highlighting that the RSPCA has this pedigree and history of also being involved internationally and supporting responses elsewhere and working in partnership with other organisations. And obviously in the context of that, the RSPCA has been one of the partners in the GOWRS project over these quite some years now. And this is a question I've asked everybody that I've spoken to. But from an RSPCA point of view, that experience of being involved in the Global Oiled Wildlife Response System when it was a project and all the work that was done, what do you see as some of the real benefits that have come out of that from the RSPCA's perspective?
8:17 - Richard: Personally, I think the document that we produced, the guidelines, the Ipieca Guidelines are phenomenal. I think I learned an awful lot about other species. I mean I'm used to dealing with Auks and Guillemots, but I learned about Pelicans and so that information sharing is vital I think and also the contacts, the networking that we have involved with the other organisations. Many of these are now good friends, but I know that if push came to shove, if there was anything happening in the UK, I know that you could trust some of these people to come along and respond with the RSPCA. And so I think that's certainly the benefit as well.
9:01 - Paul: Yeah, it's a theme that's come up time and time again and I think it speaks to the importance of it really that that collaboration is really at the heart of this and can make such a difference. As well as obviously having the structures and the processes and the protocols to know that everybody works in the same way. And that Ipieca technical support document that you mention, it is a fantastic document and again a terrific outcome to have all of these experienced organisations working together to really define or agree on those key principles of responding to oiled wildlife, it's an absolutely fantastic resource. Now obviously in the last year or so GOWRS has transitioned from that project into being a live service. So the GOWRS Oiled Wildlife Assessment Service, which is the four-person assessment team and there's been lots of work that's gone into that and obviously the fact that can now be accessed through OSRL by our members, how does that change things for the RSPCA? What does having that now transition to being a service mean specifically for the RSPCA?
10:20 - Richard: I think it opens their eyes that we are not prepared, that we need to prepare more. As I say, you know, there is this optimistic bias and the RSPCA is a large organisation that has lots of things to do with animal welfare and so they may not put the resources into oil spill response if there's no oil spills. But I know that speaking to my managers that they feel the value of the GOWRS relationship and the value of this to the RSPCA needs to be kept going. You know, we can't move away from this. This is important for us to to continue to work with and the Assessment Team is just part of that, isn't it? The experience that you will get deploying people on an Assessment Team not just helps us but also helps Industry as well and gives them an idea of actually you know, what's involved with a response. And I think like all the other organisations, we had that individual touch to it because you know, our heart is there to rehabilitate and release oiled wildlife
11:31 - Paul: Absolutely. And it's an important point to note that of course all spills don't happen. You know all the time that ultimately we don't want there to be incidents. But ultimately the ability to respond and be prepared when there are you know needs that that continuing investment. So I guess one of the elements here is the fact that you as the RSPCA as the other partners are connected into this international community where not only are you then able to be a resource and be a support for instance elsewhere, but ultimately it helps to keep the topic alive back home and hopefully enables to some extent for that experience gained through the international work to then feed hopefully back into UK preparedness as well.
12:20 - Richard: Indeed, everybody benefits from this.
12:24 - Paul: You mentioned the ability, from a member's point of view to mobilise this. But as far as having that international team, that Tier 3 team that could be called out to an incident and I guess I'm thinking about parts of the world where maybe there really is very limited preparedness. What do you see as the real importance and value of having that assessment function as a sort of initial first wave function in a response.
12:52 - Richard: I think you're getting the best team possible in the world to go to some of these places where they aren't prepared. I'm thinking of some of the countries like Nigeria where there are issues in response and access to this and also train people to be able to respond to an oil spill. I think this is very complex and very difficult and challenging. I can't say this is an easy thing and I don't think we've got all the answers to it, but I think, you know, the longer we're doing this, the more experience we get and the better we'll be able to respond to anything in a more complex situation. I mean, I know SANCCOB [South African seabird rehabilitation organisation and GOWRS partner] dealt with the Tristan de Cunha [2011 oil spill on extremely remote island in southern Atlantic Ocean] and actually in the end there wasn't really a great deal they could do for those animals there and it was disappointing. But I think we've learned an awful lot since then about how we can assist and help in these other areas that we're not familiar with perhaps.
13:54 - Paul: Yeah, it's very true. And I think you mentioned Nigeria as just as an example. And I think, you know one of the I suppose aims of this is really this idea also that over time by not just responding to incidents but being involved in exercises, maybe identifying local organisations in different countries that that also are keen to learn and maybe have had some experience with incidents that Tier 3 team, that Tier 3 service can really help to hopefully enhance the local preparedness as well. So it's not just about having that best team in the world to call in, but having that best team in the world really help hopefully to improve that preparedness over time, right?
Richard: Yeah, I think so, yes.
14:39 - Paul: Well, you mentioned SANCCOB and SANCCOB are actually going be the organisation that I interview next. And so I'm wondering if I can just ask you to say a few things about them. What do you know about SANCCOB? Maybe you can just sort of share a bit by way of introduction to their interview.
15:02 - Richard: I've been to SANCCOB in a personal capacity. When I led a group of RSPCA people, we did a tour of South Africa and SANCCOB were very kind to open their doors to us on the VIP tour and we had our VIP tour and this was in 2006. But I understand since then things have happened and the facility has grown enormously now and they are very busy. I also know that some members of the RSPCA went to respond to the MV Treasure in 2000 [oil spill in South Africa]. And so some of them came back and said all we did was help with the fish all day but they said do you know what it was an absolutely amazing experience and with 80,000 Penguins something like that.
Paul: 20,000 oiled and 20,000 that were preemptively captured.
Richard: But they said it was an amazing experience and the team down there were fantastic. And of course now they have a fantastic team in Nicky [Stander, Head of Conservation] and Monica [Stassen, Preparedness and Response Manager]. And you know these are these are people working really hard on the cutting edge of trying to save endangered animals from oil and other issues as well. But I mean, you know, it's imperative that we can assist them as well in their course there.
16:25 - Paul: Yeah, absolutely. It's a wonderful organisation, another fantastic partner in the GOWRS project and service and another one that we'll be featuring on these interviews. So, yeah, no, thank you for that, Richard. And just before we close, anything else that you wanted to share that we didn't cover about the RSPCA's role or GOWRS?
16:49 - Richard: Well, now I have actually been appointed the Operations Oil Response Coordinator now. So with the funding that allows me to have one day a week, only one day at the moment to actually focus on the GOWRS’ work and sort of promote preparedness within the Society [RSCPA]. So we're organising training courses for our own staff and also trying to get other people close to the level for the Assessment Team. So at the moment there's very few people in the Society [RSPCA] that is available for the Assessment Team and that's no fault of our own. It's just because high turnovers and staff and oiled birds perhaps not on the agenda all the time but it will give us an opportunity to raise the skills and experience for people underneath me because I'm not always going to be around.
17:42 - Paul: That's great to hear and I'm glad that you're able to do that and obviously pass on that knowledge to others as well and I wish you all the best with that. And certainly you know RSPCA is an organisation as you say they do an incredible amount of work but thank you for all you've done to you know really drive the oiled wildlife work forward over the years and yeah wish you all the best with that Richard and obviously with the ongoing work with the rest of the GOWRS network as well. Thanks again for having the chat with me today.
Richard: Thank you Paul. It's been a privilege.
Paul: See you soon. Bye for now.
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Transcript
Paul: So just to kick things off, I wanted to really just start with asking if you could briefly introduce SANCCOB. So as an organisation, what's your mission and where and how do you carry out your work?
Nicky: Thanks Paul. SANCCOB is quite an old organisation. We were established in 1968 so we've been around for some time and we're a marine conservation organisation with a special focus on endangered seabirds, including the African penguin. Sadly, species of seabirds all over the world are declining and so our job is becoming a lot harder and our work is primarily in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape of South Africa. And we've recently been moving into Namibia trying to assist them with some preparedness work as well.
Paul: Is there a story from all those years of rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife that particularly stands out as one that really illustrates the value of the work that SANCCOB does?
Nicky: There are many stories that I could think of that SANCCOB was involved in over the last 50 plus years and in terms of oiled wildlife response. You know, we've responded to every spill along the South African coastline affecting seabirds since our establishment in 1968. And of course, the one of the most remembered and celebrated responses was the Treasure Oil spill in 2000, more than 20 years ago. It remains the largest animal rescue in history, so you know huge recognition for not only for SANCCOB, but for other organisations that assisted and all of the volunteers. Thousands of people that have helped us. And of course, you know with that comes an expectation, and so we are remembered specifically for that for that event.
Paul: Yeah, that certainly a real milestone or sort of significant incident in, as you say, in terms of the numbers and the role that SANCCOB played, and obviously continues to play with the African penguin and other species in South Africa. Looking to more recent times, are there other similar events that you've had to deal with, or other challenges that you're relating to in terms of seabird emergencies in South Africa?
Nicky: SANCCOB has had to adapt over the years. You know, 20 years ago oil spills were much more frequent and that was the core function of our organisation. But these days we have way more challenges with climate change issues and disease. So if I just look back to last year in 2021, we dealt with three major responses and they were all dealt with in the same manner as how you would with an oil spill response. And we started off the year with a very serious Cape Cormorant response, where the chicks were abandoned by their parents. There were more than 2,000 chicks that were rescued from Robben Island and brought to our facility and that response lasted for six months. And then off the back of that, we went straight into an avian influenza outbreak. A very serious disease that causes huge mortality, again affecting the same species of the Cape Cormorant and endangered species again. Unfortunately, with more than 24,000 individuals were found dead. So, very sad. And then of course an oil spill happened in the Eastern Cape in November just to keep us on our toes and that was caused by the ship-to-ship bunkering operations in Algoa Bay and so plenty going on. But so we have to still be prepared for oil spills. But what it has taught us is that we respond to these incidents in the same way as we respond to oil spills. You know, you still need to be prepared, you need capacity, and you need equipment. And the way that you respond to them would be linked to your contingency plans. So, if nothing else it’s been good practice.
Paul: Yeah, it's amazing work and as you say it's not so much about the specific type of emergency, but the fact that there's a variety of these challenges that occur. And it's a similar skillset that SANCCOB holds that allows that effective response, and I know a number of other GOWRS partners I've spoken to deal with similar challenges where there's more and more of these non-oil events that you're called upon to assist with. So obviously the connection in terms of the global network and the role that SANCCOB plays in and amongst that international network of organisations is the involvement in the GOWRS project over the years. And as you know, we're in the process of making that transition from GOWRS being funded as a project to being a live service, and so two questions that are connected to that: one is if you think about just the benefit it will have for wildlife response preparedness in general, what would you say is some of the significant benefits or outcomes of GOWRS really becoming an actual service this year?
Nicky: I think it's undoubtedly the collaboration between these ten-partner organisations. There's so much strength and knowledge and skill between the 10 organizations for different reasons. It’s so amazing that it's now coming into fruition, and there's been a lot of work as you know, Paul, over the years before my time even or before I was involved in GOWRS. So understanding that even though each organisation is unique in their own way, we will have the same goal and we all have the same mindset of making the world a better place in terms of being more prepared so that wildlife do not have to suffer and that they have a good opportunity for successful rehabilitation. That's what we have in common, and that collaboration is extremely powerful, and I think in the future when we are out there in the field we will be able to show the Members the value of that collaboration, what each person brings to the table and what we can deliver in the field.
Paul: It's a really good point and just a variety of organisations and skillsets and the ability to actually mix and match and tailor the team for the specific needs of a particular location or species impact, etc. So that's obviously in relation to preparedness in general. I think that's a really good point. For SANCCOB as an organisation, you already talked about all the different sort of ways that you're asked to respond, and some of those are funded, some of them are not. What would this mean for SANCCOB as an organisation? What would it mean with the service being live? And how would that change SANCCOB for the better?
Nicky: As an NGO we are constantly challenged with funding. We are constantly challenged with, you know, lack of resources and capacity, you know, there's always sort of 10 hats that each of us has to wear. And so I do think that the funded service will bring an opportunity for us to grow our levels of response. It would be amazing for us to grow our team so that we can deliver much more training, especially to African partners. You know we're sitting at the bottom of Southern Africa and there's a huge expectation. We are mandated by the South African government to respond to oil spills. But we have responded to Namibia and we've responded in the Southern Ocean to Tristan de Cunha as well. So when you look at the world, you know there's really just these pockets of expertise that are sitting there and which is now the formation of GOWRS. And so for SANCCOB, I would love to see some opportunities for us to grow that level of preparedness for Africa specifically and make sure that we are the go-to organisation for preparedness for skill and expertise when it comes to Members needing that service.
Paul: It's a really good point and hopefully one that really supports SANCCOB in terms of having that connectivity and being able to be recognised and also have the ability to provide that service and expertise. The other part of that is moving that preparedness piece forward, not just for Africa, but the world in general. Another question on that would be what do you see as the next priorities in terms of improving preparedness in general? If we look at different countries around the world and where we are with wildlife response preparedness what are the things you think about which would really be the next priorities for our Members or other stakeholders to think about?
Nicky: I mean, we are aware that you know shipping and vessels, vessel traffic has increased over the years. We know that oil and gas exploration has increased and will continue to increase. The risks are there and we are all aware of that and obviously preparedness is key, but I think it would be very helpful to do an audit, a global audit to look at preparedness per country and to identify with those areas that really need a tier-one, at least and assist those countries or those regions with developing a baseline of preparedness. You know some countries are hugely advanced in where they are today and that's amazing, but there are many parts of the world that have nothing so if an oil spill happens sometimes it doesn't even get reported, and you can imagine that the wildlife component in the environmental aspects are last on the list, and so those are the elements that worry me and in Africa, specifically West Africa, there's huge opportunity for us to really make a difference.
Paul: I think what you're saying as well is, one of the other reasons really behind GOWRS, which is that you do have these countries where expertise has developed over the years. And this idea of pooling that experience and those organizations together, not just to respond to incidents in other parts of the world, but hopefully to also be a force multiplier for making those further developments in terms of what needs to be considered ahead of time. So, another important element I think of the GOWRS initiative. Anything else that you'd like to share just about SANCCOB and your work before we wrap up with one last question?
Nicky: I've been with SANCCOB for 12 years and in that time it's a matter of adapting to what happens over time and what happens in the space of the marine environment. Species that are endangered, it's a huge concern, obviously. Whether it's penguins or turtles and there's an added pressure. So when oil impacts any species, you have a small window of opportunity to rescue and bring it into a rehabilitation centre. And then it's got a fairly good chance of survival and release. What's important to note with the African penguin is that independent research has shown that from the Treasure Oil Spill, for example, oiling has actually impacted the reproductive system, so there's a huge misconception that animals can be oiled and cleaned and released, and sometimes that is possible, but we obviously want to prevent that because it does have long-lasting effects and we're currently looking at some more research now of some recent oiling incidents where we're looking at survival and breeding success of African penguins because ultimately, if they're not breeding, they're not contributing to the population, and that's never a good thing for an endangered species. So yes, preparedness for us is key. Trying to prevent it from happening would be number one and working with industry and working with the government to help as much as we can and advise on these issues.
Paul: Well, thank you. That's a really good point and certainly just a huge thanks for all the work that you do and that SANCCOB does and I certainly look forward to continuing that collaboration with SANCCOB part of the GOWRS project and also locally in South Africa. So thank you for that, Nicky. Looking ahead to the next episode of this, we're going to be speaking with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research from the East Coast of the US, from Delaware. So just wanted to finish off here. If you'd like to introduce them, say something about Tri-state that you know and admire as another of the GOWRS partners?
Nicky: Absolutely, Lisa Smith is the Executive Director of Tri-State and she's on the GOWRS Network and what a fantastic person she is. She has an extremely positive outlook and a can-do attitude and she really is a pleasure to work with. I can just imagine her in a spill situation or in a high-stress situation, cracking jokes and making light of it. And that's why it requires, you know, we don't want these hot heads in these situations. We need people to keep calm and see the funny side of things. So Lisa, as a person and as a leader of Tri-State is pretty amazing. Tri-State as an organisation is similar to SANCCOB. It's been around for more than 40 years, so it’s well established. And what's amazing about them is that they admit more than 3,000 species or animals a year, which is huge. It's incredibly energy demanding and labour-intensive work looking after birds believe it or not, well, you would know Paul having responded to the Treasure as well. I mean a huge undertaking to be accepting birds all year round. Whether it's a disease response or injury or whatever, it could be anything. And then on top of that, they also offer an oiled wildlife service as well. So it's pretty amazing what they can achieve. And that's to be admired, absolutely.
Paul: Thank you. Very well said, great introduction and as you say, it's great to have Lisa in that wider network, representing Tri-State. And really look forward to catching up with her on the next interview, but for now, thank you for chatting with me today and wishing you all the best, hopefully for some quiet months ahead and look forward to continuing to work on the transition of GOWRS into a service. Thanks so much.
Nicky: Thank you, Paul.
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Transcript
Paul: Lisa, thank you so much for joining me and having this conversation. We've been having this series of conversations with the different partner organisations in the GOWRS project. So in terms of Tri-state Bird Rescue and Research as being one of those partners. Can you just share a little bit about your mission as an organisation and where and how do you carry out your work?
Lisa: Sure. Tri-state Bird Rescue and Research was founded in 1976 after a series of oil spills on the Delaware River. There was a lot of ice in the river that year and there were a number of oil tankers that spilled oil as a result of colliding with the ice. Our founder pulled together a coalition of scientists and veterinarians and people who cared about birds to figure out a better way to treat wild wildlife. Since then we have evolved our practices and protocols and just continue to seek better knowledge on what is the best way to treat oiled, contaminated wildlife. We also have a wild bird clinic that treats injured and orphaned wild birds every year. We are located in New York, Delaware, not New York, New Jersey, but New York, Delaware, which is on the Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States.
Paul: And that's a good point. Because your clinic is there. So that's sort of the base but obviously in terms of the response work that you do over the years, this has been in a variety of different locations not just in the States but internationally?
Lisa: Yes, we respond in the maritime provinces of Canada and up and down the East Coast of the United States. There is not another qualified oiled wildlife responder on the Eastern Seaboard. We also respond in the Caribbean. Our team members over the years have also participated in international teams for responses globally.
Paul: Obviously a very established, experienced organisation and team, and just a few years away from celebrating 50 years?
Lisa: Yes, it's coming up fast.
Paul: You've already mentioned a couple of examples of what Tri-State does, but is there a particular response or story of Tri-State's work that particularly highlights or illustrates what you do, how you work?
Lisa: We've always worked very collaboratively. Our founder, she didn't know anything (then), so she pulled in experts and learned. We've always taken a very collaborative approach, pulling in colleagues or other experts as needed. We continue to have that approach. So when the oil spill happened in the Gulf of Mexico and our executive director at the time, Dr Heidi Stout was called on to help lead that response in the Gulf of Mexico. And we set up response centres in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, but we have a small staff, we were not able to staff all of them entirely with Tri-state people. That would have been, I mean there were you know, 2000 Pelicans that came through, right? So again taking that collaborative approach we had our colleagues from International Bird Rescue providing tremendous assistance in Louisiana facility and also from the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. Recently, we had two other (incidents) in the fall of last year and then just recently this summer where we had several hundred birds and we reached out to our colleagues. We've developed a paraprofessional network locally. So we have trained people from local zoos and aquaria to come in and help with oiled wildlife response and they've been great. And we've also called upon our colleagues on the West Coast and Oiled Wildlife Care Network and Focus Wildlife, who are both GOWRS Partners, to come in and assist. That's how we like to operate - when we need help, we ask for help. We're also happy on the other side of that to assist our colleagues if they needed it as well.
Paul: It's a good reminder that there are decades of collaboration history here with different organisations, not just working together but learning together, developing protocols and procedures. Obviously, the GOWRS project you mentioned has been one vehicle for that international collaboration. That project went on for a number of years and we're now making that transition to GOWRS being a live service. But your experience from being involved in the GOWRS project, how did that maybe add to or benefit Tri-State in relation to that opportunity to collaborate and what do you see some of the most significant outcomes of that work collectively together under the banner of GOWRS?
Lisa: One of the most important outputs from GOWRS initially was the key principles document developed under IPIECA. So I think that was really important getting, getting everybody to agree on what are the foundational key principles and publishing that as an international standard. That was critically important. The other part of it is just getting all the organisations together, working together, sharing ideas and working on preparedness together because, I think we all know it's a lot easier to respond if you've already worked with a group in the preparedness phase. So if you already have those existing relationships, then you know who you're working with, it can make all the difference when a crisis occurs and you have that comfort level of working with people that you already know and have that understanding with them.
Paul: So it's almost twofold. You've got both the shared procedures and protocols that everybody's familiar with, but you've also got those relationships that mean ultimately you can all know that you can work effectively together.
So as I said this, the project has now culminated in GOWRS as an oiled wildlife assessment service going live. So what's the significance of that to you? What does it mean to have that service be live, both in terms of the end users of it, but also from the organisations like Tri-State that are involved in delivering it?
Lisa: So from our perspective as an individual organisation, you know it is exciting to be part of this global group. And to be working toward making sure our skills and knowledge are up to the task if we if an incident happens and we are selected to assist with the assessment team. I think that really helps us, keep up that high level internationally. And as far as all the groups, this is kind of where the rubber meets the road, right. And we've been working on this for years and I think it's exciting to finally be able to be ready to respond to contaminated wildlife globally. And as an international team, we've certainly done it before in other spills, with IFAW [International Fund for Animal Welfare] organising it or in the Bow Jubail incident in Rotterdam, when they reached out and there were other GOWRS partners that supported this effort. But now it's going to be more formalized and so I think it's a very exciting opportunity and I think it it will greatly benefit oiled wildlife globally, and it does help to make them more visible as well.
Paul: So what's next in the sense of the work that you're doing collectively to deliver that team? What are some of the elements that you're working on together now that are maybe less visible but part of the readiness for that?
Lisa: So we are meeting in person for the first time in a few years, next week out in Long Beach, CA. So it will be very exciting to be able to work together for a full week. We are hoping to get a lot accomplished and one of the main things is just making sure that we have our SOP's in place, that we understand our procedures, how we're going to move forward, who is in that pool of qualified candidates for the assessment team and then how they're selected if an incident occurs. So we've got definitely got some goals for next week, but it's so much better to meet in person. I mean, one obvious reason is that it's just easier to have a conversation, but also because the GOWRS members are international. There's really only like a two-hour window out of every 24 that's even acceptable for us to work in because it still means that somebody's getting up very early and somebody else is staying up very late. So we are limited in the amount of time that we can spend together online on zoom. Virtual meetings have been really good but again we are limited in how much time we get to spend together and an in person meeting, it's just much easier because you're with everybody all day.
Paul: It's such a good point. You forget that it's not just about the in-person experience, but it's actually being on the same time zone and having 8 hours in the day to work together instead of just two. Well, I wish you all the best with that in-person meeting. And in terms of that time zone challenge, as you say, we've got GOWRS partners from all over the world and the next interview in this series that I'll be doing is with Wildbase at Massey University, which is in New Zealand. So obviously geographically very different part of the world from where you're located, but just as an introduction to them, I wondered if you could just share something that you particularly admire or have seen through working with them?
Lisa: Sure so for years, Wildbase has been working on preparedness and oil spill response in New Zealand and surrounding areas in the Asia Pacific region. And that all was called into action with the Rena spill in 2011. And they just did a fantastic job with that response. You know, they had to deal with endangered species. They had to set up a facility from the ground up. They called in some international partners as well to assist with that response and it was a huge undertaking and they did a fantastic job with it and they had a really good outcome with the animals. And it's because they were prepared, because they had been working for so many years on preparedness that, first of all, that they were there, that there is a Wildbase, and that they had done all that preparedness work. And you never want that incident to happen but then when you are, you want to be able to execute and they executed it at a high level and they just did a really great job and. Afterwards, they published a number of papers to share the knowledge and things that they had learned during that incident, which is also critical because then it helps that base of knowledge and it helps the next group you know for the next time for the next incident. So just a fantastic organisation.
Paul: Thank you very much. Lisa, anything else you'd like to share? What else is on Tri State’s radar for the future or the coming months or year?
Lisa: Well, we're just coming down off our very busy summer season. You know, we're looking forward to the GOWRS meeting next week and then the week after that is the Effects of Oil on Wildlife (or EOW) Conference that International Bird Rescue is hosting. We share this conference with International Bird Rescue and the last time we hosted it was 2018 in Baltimore, MD. So, once this one's over, we get like a year off and then we have to start thinking about the next Effects of Oil on Wildlife Conference. So that will be on the radar. And then also you know we've got things planned for different trainings for our team and there's just always something going on with preparing the building as far as equipment or what's the next thing we want to set up, what do we need to get equipment wise or training wise, or, you know, just trying to find the best way to be prepared.
Paul: It's a really important point you mentioned there about the Effects of Oil and Wildlife Conference because I think I am right in saying it really is the only dedicated international conference specifically looking at the impact of oil spills on wildlife. And as you say, Tri-state has been instrumental in that. I remember my first EOW in Myrtle Beach many years ago, which was organised by Tri-State, and it's also been a really critical meeting point for building all of those relationships that really underpin the work in this field. Well, thank you, Lisa. I wish you all the best and look forward to chatting with Louise Chilvers from Wildbase next time. But for now, thank you very much for your time.
Lisa: Thank you so much, Paul. I appreciate the opportunity.
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Transcript
Paul: Hi, this is Paul Kelway from Oil Spill Response from the Wildlife Preparedness and Response Manager and welcome to this next episode in a series of interviews I've been doing with the network of leading wildlife response organisations that have been participating in the multi-year Global Oiled Wildlife Response System or GOWRS project. So GOWRS has actually now transitioned from a project to a Global World Wildlife Response Service. So it's a guaranteed four-person Tier 3 Wildlife Assessment team and that's now part of OSRL's Guaranteed SLA services to members. To raise awareness of the incredible organisations that are collectively delivering that service, I've been hosting these conversations with each of the 10 GOWRS partners and today I'm joined by Dr. Louise Chilvers from Wildbase at Massey University in New Zealand.
Dr. Chilvers is a professor in Wildlife Ecology in the School of Veterinary Sciences at Massey University and is the Director of the Wildbase Oiled Wildlife Response Team. Louise's roles include leading all aspects of preparedness, planning, research and response for oiled wildlife response in New Zealand, in collaboration with Maritime New Zealand. Massey University is also a founding member of GOWRS, and Louise was actually the chair of GOWRS for three years, from 2017 to 2020.
So Louise, thanks very much for joining us.
Louise: Morning, Paul. My pleasure.
Paul: So yeah, thanks for getting up early, your time to do this and yeah, so let's maybe start at the beginning. And I guess really the first question is to ask you just to briefly introduce Wildbase, so you know what is the mission and where and how do you carry out your work.
Louise: Thanks. Wildbase is part of the School of Vet within Massey University and there are several parts of Wildbase. You know our overall mission is to provide veterinarian science services for the conservation and health and welfare of wildlife in Aotearoa New Zealand. So that's our biggest bigger mission. Within that is the oiled wildlife response team and our mission is to work to minimise the effects of oil pollution on wildlife through prevention, protection, rescue, rehabilitation and release. And we undertake oiled wildlife response, response and research, training planning within New Zealand and actually throughout Asia Pacific. So yeah, that's what we're about. Wildbase is a bigger team. We have a wildlife hospital, a pathology unit, research unit, a recovery unit which is open to the public and in partnership with the local council of Palmerston North, where Massey is based and of course, the oiled wildlife team.
Paul: Yeah, So it's interesting. You're connected into this wider institution and obviously it's that scientific basis of what you do. And then you also have this formal relationship with the government of New Zealand through Maritime New Zealand to provide this response capability and programmes. So are there a couple of examples of the work that you've done in those roles that illustrate a little bit more, what the Wildbase team is all about?
Louise: Yeah, thanks for that. I would guess the main thing that Wildbase in New Zealand is known for recently, well relatively recently has been the MV Rena response which was in 2011. So that was a container ship that hit a reef 11 kilometres just off one of our major ports. And it was an unusual response in that the ship released an initially a load of oil and then the ship broke in half a month later and released another load of oil. So, it was quite a long response. On the world scale, it wasn't a big oil release, it was about 350 tonnes. However, it spread over a large area over 360 kilometres and therefore it affected a lot of animals. I think we had about 2,000 animals unfortunately come in dead and we captured and rehabilitated just over 400 mainly little blue Penguins, but everything from cormorants to ducks and even had a few domestic terrestrial birds come in.
I guess the other thing which is different about us from many of the other groups in GOWRS is that we are fully government funded organisation for the whole of New Zealand and because of that we are integrated with government agreements and memorandums wider than New Zealand. So there's memorandums of understanding with Australia and throughout the Pacific for our Pacific island nations that we neighbour. So we haven't responded in those areas before but we certainly plan and help train in those areas. So we kind of reach slightly wider than New Zealand
Paul: and it's interesting because we obviously talk a lot about having a good practice approach which is ideally it's on a national level that there is this active or proactive programme approach where there's really an effort to have a plan and to have and to train and exercise capability to be ready to respond to that plan. And so certainly New Zealand is a really good example of that in action and ultimately that success of the Rena was built on some of that preparedness over the years prior to that, right?
Louise: Yeah. Thank you Paul. Yes, I mean we have quite an intensive training plan. We're a bit like the OWCN [Oiled Wildlife Care Network] in California in that we have trained volunteers throughout the country. Each of our regional councils, which is the equivalent of a state and most other countries, has regional responders. And then we train specialists throughout the country as well. So, we have a team that's ready to go. We have equipment again in each regional council mainly for the initial stages capture and PPE and hazing. But then we have trailers distributed throughout the country and of course a national stockpile. We are designed to be a mobile response team. So we have our equipment and because New Zealand isn't that big that equipment can be picked up and put on the back of a truck and moved and be ready to be set up within 24 hours. So we instead of having facilities that you increase the capacity during an oil spill, we actually just move our entire facility and set it up as close to the spill as possible and as practical.
Paul: That's actually a really good point because as you say when the Rena response happened, it wasn't as if you were running that out of your veterinary hospital or facility. It was actually a purpose built temporary facility with all the logistical resourcing elements that something of that scale would need, right?
Louise: Yes, yes, we permanently have three 20 foot containers ready to go. So one is a purpose built wash and rinse container and the other two are more or less just lots of equipment ready to go. So yes, but it's designed to be able to put on a back of truck and get to anywhere with the New Zealand and start setting up within 24 hours. So it's a different way of looking at it, but you know New Zealand doesn't have the population to have set up facilities the entire length of its country. So this is the way that we feel is the best to be organised and ready to go.
Paul: We're obviously here to talk a bit about GOWRS which is very much built on international collaboration and obviously you have this strong capability in New Zealand. But that Rena spill was also an example where you tapped into that international community to some extent as well, right? Obviously just some of the expertise that's out there just to provide some additional resources for your team through that response,
Louise: Absolutely. Yep. I mean we were very lucky to be able to get Mike Ziccardi from OWCN and Barbara Callahan from IBR [International Bird Rescue] and other experts from around the world to come and help us. I mean it looked like we were starting to have a few marine mammals which there's no facilities for or very few facilities in New Zealand to hold marine mammals. So, when that started to be an issue we thought we should get the experts of the world to come in and help us. But also, Barbara's expertise in the IMS and Mike's expertise to do just about anything in a spill was really helpful. It helped us incredibly through what was an incredibly long spill response in the end for such a small amount of oil.
Paul: Well, congratulations on that response. As you say it was significant in terms of the size and incredibly successful with the response that you undertook. So, so thank you for that And I guess it is a good segueway into talking about GOWRS in relation to that work that Massey University has done working with that global community over the years. And I think it was not long after the Rena that the GOWRS project actually was initiated in its sort of first two years of funding. So we've talked a bit about that with the different partners and the work that's been achieved through the project itself. From your point of view, what do you see as some of the most significant outcomes of that work together over the years as a group of organisations under that GOWRS banner?
Louise: It would definitely be the collaboration and the collaboration that's led to, you know, not only really positive global outputs like the Ipieca Guides, but also the collaboration within the organisations, the ability to cross train, the ability to understand each other's processes and protocols, even just to the level of understanding each other within the organisations. I think that's one of the really important things of my job is that I need to get out there and meet all the people that I'm going to be working with in a response. Because having that understanding of who they are and how they operate in normal day lives is really beneficial and what you need to understand how they're going to operate in a response. And I think that's the best part about GOWRS, is our ability to meet each other, work which each other, exercise with each other. And so we know how we're going to operate in a response and that's a really important thing.
Paul: Very well said and obviously since then and in the last year or two, GOWRS has transitioned into actually now being an operational service integrated into our OSRL services. What does that transition mean for Wildbase? What are the main significances of this now becoming a service I guess for Wildbase as an organisation? And also what does it mean for wildlife response preparedness in general?
Louise: I think there's you know there's a small scale response to that question and larger scale response to that question. I think for us again that increased collaboration between the organisations to continuously move further and further to being prepared for that response means that we have the ability to communicate more and reach out across the organisations for learning and get more of an understanding again how we work together. But you know who has those specialities and all those sorts of things when it comes to working together. I mean for Wildbase and for me personally, I’m a marine mammal scientist that's my background and there are not many others within GOWRS that have that marine mammal specialty. So for me to put my thinking cap on globally about what happens with marine mammals if we have a spill response and what we're recommending for oiled wildlife response. I think those are the two things for me personally and then for Wildbase.
Paul: And then in terms of wildlife response preparedness, what difference does it make or will it make to have that GOWRS assessment team available as a mobilisable service?
Louise: I think I mean globally it's incredibly important it's you know the ability to reach out and be available to help a country you know, understand what might be needed for an oiled wildlife response. I think also collectively it's giving us a bigger voice for companies and countries to understand how a response needs to be run and how. You know we are a Tier three response level, but actually you know the Tier one and Tier two response is also needed within a country. And hopefully, you know, we can work with organisations and industry and countries not only in a spill but outside of a spill to help encourage their Tier one and Tier 2 level organisation and training within countries as well. And I see there is an incredibly important part of our service.
Paul: Yeah, it's an important point that it's yes, it's a service in an emergency but that hopefully it's also a catalyst, for as you say companies, countries to tap into that expertise and help to support that investment in country. And as we started off talking about New Zealand is obviously a very well-prepared place and but there's many parts of the world which, don't have that sort of structure or I suppose focus on the topic. And so hopefully as you say it's an ability to support those areas of the world in a response but also to help move their levels of preparedness forward as well. Well, as I mentioned, we've been interviewing all the different GOWRS partners and so the next partner organisation that I'll speak to is the Wildlife Rescue Centre of Ostend. And I know before you just spoke about the value of the collaboration and the fact that ultimately through the project each of the GOWRS partners, I believe, have had the chance to actually visit each other's facilities and understand a bit more about how each other operates. So, I wonder if you can just share a little bit about Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend by way of introduction to my interview with them.
Louise: Thank you, Paul. I'd love to. Yeah. It’s been really interesting to work across the globe and certainly you can't get much further across the globe from New Zealand to Belgium. So that's a good start. And Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend. Yeah, we've been to their facilities and seen how they set up. I mean they're really known for two spills that they have responded to. So the Tricolor spill in 2002 in Belgium and then recently in 2018 the Rotterdam Harbour Spill in The Netherlands. They are a bit like us they have a permanent facility but then they actually also have the ability to set up a mobile facility in spills like in the Rotterdam spill [where they supported the Dutch response to the incident] and they've shown that they work collaboratively you know for the Rotterdam spill they bought in other GOWRS partners like the UK, RSPCA and Focus Wildlife from Canada and they show themselves to be incredibly competent oiled wildlife team working across huge numbers of animals like even within their facility within one year. You know they can do thousands of animals which is an incredible feat but it's all part of that preparedness and training for oiled wildlife response and they're an invaluable member of the GOWRS team.
Paul: Fantastic. Thanks Louise. And I guess you'll be seeing them soon because you're getting ready to head to the next GOWRS in-person meeting which I know is always a precious opportunity to actually be in the same time zone and to be meeting and your next meeting is coming up next week I believe?
Louise: Yes. Next week in Anacortes near Seattle hosted by Focus Wildlife.So yes looking forward to it and as you say being on the same time zone. So I'm not up at 6:00 in the morning and others are still awake at 9:00 at night Is quite useful.
Paul: Absolutely, yes it makes a real difference. Great. Well, anything else you want to say before we close?
Louise: No. Thank you Paul for giving us this opportunity and you know encouraging and exposing their GOWRS service and letting them know what it's about because it's a really important global service and global collaboration. So thank you.
Paul: Great. Thanks Louise. Thank you as well. And yes, best of luck next week. And I'll look forward to speaking with Claude Velter from Wildlife Rescue Centre of Ostend in the next interview. But for now, all the best. Thanks very much.
Louise: Thanks, Paul.
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Transcript
Interview with Claude Velter
Introduction
Paul 0:02
Hello, this is Paul Kelway the Wildlife Preparedness and Response Manager at Oil Spill Response Limited. And welcome to the next episode in our series of interviews I've been doing with the network of leading wildlife response organisations that have been participating in the multi-year Global Oiled Wildlife Response System or GOWRS project. GOWRS has now transitioned from a project to a live service guaranteed four-person oiled wildlife assessment team. And that's now part of our OSRL's guaranteed SLA services to members and to raise awareness of the incredible organisations who are collectively delivering that service I've been hosting these conversations with each of the 10 GOWRS partners, and today I'm joined by Claude Velter, Director of the Wildlife Rescue Centre, Ostend in Belgium. Claude is an avid birder. He's the Co-founder and Manager of the Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO), and has worked with wildlife, specifically oiled wildlife for over 30 years. His work was originally focused on state-of-the-art oiled wildlife rehabilitation during the chronic pollution and major spills from ship accidents throughout Europe and in the last five years, his role has shifted to training, planning and research associated with oiled wildlife in Eurasia, and Africa, and managing the nine to 11 dedicated crew at the WRCO to work with over 6000 animals per year.
Paul: Claude thanks very much for joining us, it's great to see you.
Claude 1:30
Claude: Hi Paul, thanks for this opportunity, not just for us as an organisation, but for the whole GOWRS group. Thank you.
Paul 1:36
Paul: No, thank you. And obviously gave you a little bit of an introduction there. And maybe from that point, I can just ask you to maybe introduce in a bit more detail your organization, Wildlife Rescue Centre, Ostend. What's the mission? Where and how do you carry out your work?
Claude 1:56
Claude: Well, as the name says, we are located in Ostend, which is actually in the centre of the Belgium coastline. And originally, we were set up like 35 years ago, as a very small local rehab facility, specifically for oiled wildlife. So we were only active in the winter because in those days, the oiled birds arrived on the beaches only in the winter. In the meantime, we have grown more and more we have staff we have much better location, we have a specific built rehab facility for us. And as you said, we get over 6,000 animals a year now. The number of oiled birds has reduced a lot, luckily. So there's much, much less chronic oiling. But we get animals in for all kinds of reasons and all different species, but all native.
Paul 3:00
Paul: It's amazing, that's a lot of animals per year coming in. So you talked about spills, and obviously you've got the permanent facility as well. Is there an example or two, that illustrates just the kind of work that you and the team do at the facility and around the world?
Claude 3:18
Claude: Well, what we try is to ring or band our birds after rehabilitation just before they are released, as well during spills, as in the daily work. And one of the first ring recoveries we had was one from an oiled guillemot, recovered or rehabilitated during the Tricolor oil spill [2003, in the French Channel], which was the major oil spill we ever had in Belgium. And more than five years later, it was seen, so not found dead, but it was seen on a breeding colony. So that was really one of the first times we had very, very good news on an oiled bird that survived, not only survived, but took its place back in nature. And those stories continue. The last major spill we worked out was in Rotterdam, the Bow Jubail [2018 oil spill, Netherlands], and that's only with swans. And these swans are now seen on a regular basis, breeding, reproducing or just living their lives. Because they're all ringed. And that's how we have to prove that what we do works. But not just works. It's these are very, very wonderful stories for us and for the staff and the volunteers to see that the hard work helps.
Paul 4:47
Paul: Absolutely. And you know, you mentioned that one example of a bird that's gone on to survive and thrive in the wild. And that speaks to the developments in the field and the protocols that are now used, I know that is something that you've been very actively interested in and sort of supporting not just the development of those, but also the sort of consistent agreement and use of those kinds of protocols to improve those success rates, right?
Claude 5:16
Claude: Yeah, indeed, when we had a major oil spill in 2003 [Tricolor], Belgium was not prepared at all. And we, as a local small rehab facility had no idea what protocols were, was simple as that. During that spill, we got a lot of international support from RSPCA, for instance, from PRO Bird, organisations that today are still active members of the GOWRS network. And they showed us the importance of networking, and the importance of having protocols. So that moment was the first contact with international groups. And from then on, we've been very strong followers of the scientific way, do the scientific way, not only using your guts, or your hearts, but also the science behind it. And it's wonderful to see that this gives the best results.
Paul 6:14
Paul: Absolutely. And one key element of that which you've touched on is the importance of facilities that are designed to actually carry out that work. And, as you know, in OSRL we have these international stockpiles that we can send to support a wildlife response, but obviously, actually having a dedicated facility and the importance of that as something in addition, and over and above those global stockpiles is so key. And your facility is a great example of, I suppose, the years of work and learning, what is the kind of facility that's needed, and then how to actually create those, so that they're then ready for these larger scale incidents?
Claude 6:53
Claude: Well, yes. So definitely for Tier one capacity, but also for Tier two capacity, we can upscale. If it's another spill, like we had a 2003 [Tricolor] with a couple of 1,000 animals, then we will need extra equipment, extra tents, and expand the whole facility. But also for that we have a plan. For most countries, of course, they start with a plan without having the specific facility. And then you need to think you'd need to draw plans, you need to know what is available on the market, so that you don't lose a lot of time in reacting. Because if it takes you a week to build a facility, well, then you can stop working because you can't keep the birds alive for a week. And the greatest example, there is the cooperation we have with the network with the Dutch government, the Netherlands. That is an ongoing project with our partner Sea Alarm and SUBMON response [Wildlife organisation in Spain, member of EUROWA]. And, again, having those plans in place worked. They've proved that they worked during the BowOW Jubail [oil spill 2018], within 48 hours, we had a whole village built up and could start rehabilitating those 500 plus swans.
Paul 8:21
Paul: It's a really good example, Louise Chilvers from Massey University mentioned this when she was introducing you on the last episode. And she mentioned that mobile facility and as you say, it's a fantastic situation, because it's part of a whole programme. And so you have this ability to set that at wherever it's needed, and essentially having the contractors in place to get that ready in one or two days. And you were quite involved not just in supporting that effort. But actually the process of getting that that facility operational when that incident that you mentioned, right?
Claude 8:56
Claude: Yes. And it's all pieces of the puzzle. On one side, you need trained people that know what to do. They need to be trained with a larger group, because we talk about a Tier three incident here. So, it is obviously that people will come from different areas outside the country. So having this GOWRS network is ideal for that. But that's only the people. They need tools, equipment to work with. Now, OSRL has a stockpile, that has been built up with together with GOWRS people, and then you need facilities and that's what local governments or national governments need to provide, of course, we can only push them towards their plan, and that they realise that there are several pieces in the puzzle. And if one is missing, then we have a problem because the weakest link in the chain will decide whether you fail or have success. And that's very important for governments for industry to realise that you can invest in one link. But if you are blind for the other, then at the end it will not be successful.
Paul 10:27
Paul: Yeah, very well said and, you know, pieces of the puzzle was an interesting way to look at it. And, you know, actually, I suppose one of the pieces of that puzzle is international cooperation. And you talked about GOWRS and the work of the years to bring a group of organisations together and to collaborate and to actually come out of that now being more formally connected and working together internationally. So I've asked this question to everybody, but from the perspective of the Wildlife Rescue Centre, Ostend and you personally, what do you feel like has been one of the biggest benefits and sort of important outcomes of those years of collaboration so far?
Claude 12:21
Claude: So as I said before, our international networking started in 2003. And then it was mainly with European groups that are today still active in EUROWA, the European [wildlife response] network, and some of them also in GOWRS, but then GOWRS gave us this connection with a global network, with people in organisations from all over the world, who work scientifically, at university scientifically on protocols, who have a lot of data, a lot of experience and opening that getting a link with those organisations was wonderful for us to, to grow in our knowledge in our capability. And that's wonderful, because that is how we built towards the future.
Paul 13:11
Paul: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's interesting and been wonderful to see the progress and the evolution of that cooperation over the over the years. And, obviously, now it's evolved, or it's transpired that that collaboration is now turned into a sort of formal Tier three service, that's been being delivered collectively, through those organisations. Now that that service is live, what do you see as one of key benefits or positives in being involved in that from an organisational point of view? And also, what do you see is the benefit in really helping incidents and also helping preparedness?
Claude 13:54
Claude: Well, for us, we see that the service now is there a direct investment in the future, not only the future, for the spill response, but also for our organisation. Because each organisation invests in its preparedness. And for us, it means we are able to train extra staff so that we are more capable of reacting. We have a full-time job here on the work floor with the 6,000 animals. And if everybody is full-time working on those animals, there's absolutely no option to bring our capability and our knowledge and our experience to other spills. With this investment, we can train more people and we will be more available and that was the whole goal of the project originally, but now since it's a service, we see the effects immediately.
Paul 15:00
Paul: Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, the element of that, too, which you've alluded to, I think is also that then you have those people that are trained and ready to respond. And ultimately, you know, in this concept, it's the ability to mobilise that assessment team. And certainly, thinking of parts of the world where there is limited, or perhaps no preparedness for an oiled wildlife incident. So what difference do you think a team like that can they make in an incident? And how might, how does that fit in? It's those sorts of pieces of the puzzle that we talked about earlier?
Claude 15:36
Claude: Well, if you have unexperienced people, on the spill sites, or they don't see animals that are oiled, or they don't know what to do with it. And that is how all these networks originally started. Like, we need to be prepared because every time there was a spill, every time there was an accident, unexperienced people started looking at it and looking at it, and you start from a very slow position, everything has to move. And it takes a lot of time. And we don't have that time, because these are oiled animals, it's not oil on the ground, it's oil on animals, and these animals have to be treated as quickly as possible. Or not, if there's no option in the country, and having experienced people through the service - very fast on the ground, they can decide within a couple of days, if all the necessary equipment can be brought in; if the people are there; if all the pillars are met, and we can save so much more time to end up with a very successful rehabilitation programme. In the past, it was not existing. So people just started from a reaction out of their heart, loving these animals trying to save these animals. And basically, in the past, if we look at the results, they were very poor. Now we know if you have a plan, and you save a lot of time, you can have wonderful results. In the Bow Jubail [2018 oil spill], we released 96% of the oiled animals simply because we were prepared. The Netherlands were prepared. And having this service now, with these experienced teams from all over the world who can work together, we can set up an assessment team, within a couple of hours, they can be on the ground the next day. And that is investing in it. And that will have a lot of better results for the Client, for the people who have to work with it and for the animals.
Paul 17:54
Paul: Yeah, very well said, I know that in the wildlife response community, often it's talked about as this window of opportunity. And so it's really making the most of that, because as you say it is a life and death situation. And they're not going to be there forever, that we need to intervene as quickly as possible. The last question, I suppose on that is just the value of exercises as well as incidents, both in testing those arrangements, but also maybe helping to increase the learning around, how prepared are we, and maybe identifying some of the ways that we can move that forward in the future. So just wondered if you want to share anything about that, and especially as how that relates both to sort of improving response, but also hopefully moving preparedness forward as well. And that's been a big thing in the Netherlands, isn't it?
Claude 18:41
Claude: Yes. But I've been very lucky within GOWRS, I was part of the most recent exercise, and another one a couple of years earlier. And it's interesting to see the effect we have on the company that invites us. It's such an eye opener because of course, everybody is a specialist in his or her own fields. And wildlife rehabilitation is a very specific skill. So that means a lot of people have no idea how it goes. And being able to be part of an exercise in this whole preparedness background and as an Assessment Team is every time a huge eye opener for the people, for the industry. So we can only stimulate the industry. Please include wildlife, include us and you will see there's so much worth doing it.
Paul 19:50
Paul: That’s a lot of value and insight. Absolutely. We'll call it thank you very much for that. And, you actually are the 10th of the partners that we've interviewed, we've done it in alphabetical order. And so each time we've had one of the partners actually introduce the next interview, but at this stage all the organisations have been introduced. However, I know fairly recently GOWRS as a network have appointed a full-time Coordinator to actually work on all of your behalf. And that's Adam Grogan. We both know, Adam well, and I just wondered if you would like to just say a few words about Adam, by way of introduction to who Adam is?
Claude 20:42
Claude: Well, first of all, it is also more lessons the GOWRS has become, or have the possibility to become a service that we could get a Coordinator. And, well, as you said, you and me, we know Adam for a very long time. He has always been the RSPCA representative, both in GOWRS, but also in EUROWA. So even before GOWRS existed. But it also means that he knows all the partner organisations, he knows the organisation of GOWRS, he knows the organisation of EUROWA. And I think we couldn't have dreamt of a better coordinator who has all this knowledge to start with. I mean, it's a very small niche we're working in it's a very complicated world, it's bringing two seemingly entirely different worlds wildlife and Oil and Gas industry together, having to work together. And I think Adam is not only me, I know, we're the partners as well. We're so lucky to have Adam on the place. Last week, we were all having our in-person meeting that we have twice a year. And it was the first time with Adam, really in his position as Coordinator. And yet, we could see the results of that. So it's wonderful. It's another important piece of the puzzle. Having that Coordinator is so important.
22:25
Paul: And very well said. Thank you for introducing Adam. Hopefully, we'll have a chat with him at some point as well. But for now, anything else you want to add before we close?
Claude 22:42
Claude: No, I'm, I want to thank you again, for this opportunity. And for the people who are listening and they are not the wildlife people. We can only keep pushing on the same button, exercises, exercises, be prepared. The industry does a lot of exercises but include wildlife. It's so worth it to do that small extra investment. And we are there for you. It's a service that we offer. So use it.
Paul 23:16
Paul: Thank you very much. Claude really good to see you. And, yeah, wish you all the best with all your ongoing work. And sure we'll speak soon.
Claude 23:24
Claude: Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye
Episode 1: Aiuka
In episode 1, Paul Kelway, OSRL's Wildlife Response and Preparedness Manager, interviews Valeria Ruppolo of Aiuka, a Brazilian organisation with national and international experience in planning, rescuing, and rehabilitating fauna affected by oil spills.
Learn more about Aiuka here.
Episode 2: Focus Wildlife
In episode 2, Chris from Focus Wildlife talks about the risk of a lack of oiled wildlife responders in the next generation and how the GOWRS service is helping address this by bringing more sustainability and resilience to the wildlife response community.
Learn more about Focus Wildlife here.
Episode 3: International Bird Rescue
In episode 3, JD Bergeron, CEO of International Bird Rescue joins us. With 20 years of non-profit leadership under his belt and being the co-founder of a bicycle fundraiser in Zambia to raise money for girls in empowerment and HIV AIDS, you can’t miss the passion JD has for making a difference in the world.
JD shares more about the recent bird rescue mission at Long Beach Harbor and his take on what the transition of the Global Oiled Wildlife Response System project means for the industry.
Learn more about International Bird Rescue here.
Episode 4: Oiled Wildlife Care Network
In episode 4, we speak to Mike Ziccardi, Director of California's Oiled Wildlife Care Network.
Learn more about the Oiled Wildlife Care Network here.
Episode 5: PRO Bird
In episode 5, Sascha Regmann from PRO Bird in Germany joins us.
Learn more about PRO Bird here.
Episode 6: RSPCA
In episode 6, we hear from Richard Thompson from the RSPCA.
Richard is currently the RSPCA Rehabilitation Manager at Mallydams Wood Wildlife Centre, UK and has been in post since 1996. Richard's position involves formulating and delivering husbandry protocols and diets for over 100 different species of native wildlife. The RSPCA places a strong emphasis on continual post release monitoring of animals using radio telemetry and mark/recapture projects. The centre is also an educational provider, delivering training on wildlife rehabilitation to RSPCA personnel and students from colleges studying animal care.
Learn more about the RSPCA here.
Episode 7: SANCCOB
In episode 7, we are joined by Nicky Stander from SANCCOB.
Learn more about SANCCOB here.
Episode 8: Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research
In episode 8, we are speaking to Lisa Smith from Tri-state Bird Rescue & Research.
Lisa Smith is the Executive Director of Tri-state Bird Rescue & research. Lisa began volunteering at Tri-state Bird Rescue in 1984, and she was a member of their Wild Bird Clinic staff from 1993-1996, overseeing the care of over a thousand of birds annually. In 2011, she returned to Tri-state as Executive Director, and she has been the primary Tri-state representative on the GOWRS team since 2018.
Learn more about Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research here.
Episode 9: Wildbase
In episode 9, we are joined by Dr. Louise Chilvers from Wildbase at Massey University in New Zealand.
Dr. Chilvers is a professor in Wildlife Ecology in the School of Veterinary Sciences at Massey University and is the Director of the Wildbase Oiled Wildlife Response Team. Louise's roles include leading all aspects of preparedness, planning, research and response for oiled wildlife response in New Zealand, in collaboration with Maritime New Zealand.
Learn more about Wildbase here.
Episode 10: Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO)
In episode 10, Paul Kelway, OSRL’s Wildlife Preparedness and Response Manager is joined by Claude Velter, Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO) in Belgium in our interview series with wildlife response organisations participating in the Global Oiled Wildlife Response System (GOWRS) Project.
Learn more about Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend (WRCO) here.
