Oil birds have also been taken care of in the Den Helder wildlife shelter. Bep Naber from the Helderse Vallei: “We received two guillemots. One is completely covered and the other less so. We actually expected young birds that got into trouble due to the storm.”
Before the animals can get back on the water, they must be washed. The condition for this is that they are stable enough. The animal caretakers check this by weighing them every 48 hours and taking blood samples.
Rinse out oil and soap
At the shelter, the smeared birds are first warmed in a special drying cabinet. After this, the recovery process starts. The birds are given fluids and liquid food for the first two days.
When the guillemots and gannets are strong enough, the zookeepers wash them with warm water and soap to remove the oil from their feathers. After this, the birds are rinsed very carefully, because in addition to the oil, all soap must also be removed. The birds then have to brush themselves waterproof again on the water.
At Ecomare they keep a close eye on the beach. Havermans: “Let’s see what we find on the beach tomorrow. It remains to be seen whether these are the first of many hundreds or whether it will remain just a few. We hope, of course, that it will not be too bad.”