Oily heroes
University students, faculty help ducks
By Harry Esteve
Of tha Emerald
Sometimes journalists have to
make a choice between being
good at their job and being
good citizens
When I heard about the diesel
spill early Friday morning, my
first instinct was: Story I waited
for Emerald photo editor Bob
Baker to get his gear ready, and
then followed him to the Mill
Ducks
Continued from Page 1
By 8 a m. Friday, the Highway
Department has reported the
incident to the Department of
Environmental Quality, says
Janet Gillaspie, DEQ informa
tion officer
Larry Lowenkron, DEQ envi
ronmental engineer was at the
spill site within two hours, she
says
By noon nearly 100 volun
teers were snagging ducks in
butterfly nets, wading with out
stretched arms after ducks,
herding 10 to 20 birds at a time
with volleyball nets and anx
iously clutching fuel-drenched
flapping geese
The immediate concern was
to combat hypothermia, says
Greg Stickrod, director for
laboratory animal services of
the University psychology
department The diesel dis
solves water-repellent oils in the
bird's feathers, allowing water
into their down insulation It's
"just like getting your sleeping
bag wet,” Stickrod says The
result is that the ducks and
geese drown
Stickrod and his staff organ
ized a duck wash and treatment
center in the laboratory animals'
building near the pond
Volunteers washed geese
and ducks in detergent and kept
them warm with hair driers they
brought from home
Canoes were launched from
the University boathouse to
remove ducks from the pond s
islands Pick-up trucks were
sent to rescue birds next to the
University inn.
Animal regulation trucks ap
peared on the scene and began
carting geese and ducks to the
agency’s shelter where two vet
erinarians stood ready
Imagine tube feeding, wash
ing and rewashing 338 ducks,
says Flood
The birds have been "farmed
out” to veterinary clinics and
homes equipped to care for
them until the water is safe, she
race
The pond was empty and
dead-looking In the clear, chilly
air the sharp smell of diesel
lightly burned the back of my
throat The ducks were quiet
and hiding in bushes surround
ing the pond, as if they had
chosen to suffer in private
silence.
Besides myself and the pho
tographer, there were only a few
other people around One was
says
Since geese mate for life, they
must be returned so they can
find each other, she says
"Their lives have been turned
upside down ”
Robert's Environmental Ser
vices has been hired by the
highway department to clean
the diesel fuel from the pond
and the Millrace
Lowenkron says the DEQ may
initiate legal action against the
highway department According
to Lowenkron, Oregon law
states any company, group or
organization causing an oil spill
resulting in a "slick" is legally
responsible
speaking through a walkie-talk
ie and seemed "official.” I
asked what had happened and
he told me about the diesel spill.
I asked him if the ducks were in
danger of dying He told me they
had only a 10 percent chance of
living
I thought about the Millrace
ducks, how much they meant to
the University, and the instinct
returned: Bigger story
I followed Bob around as he
took pictures of ducks that
looked dazed and sick. A few
people came down to the pond
with bread as part of their daily
ritual of feeding the ducks
I kept wondering why no one
"official” had taken charge of
rounding up the ducks to try and
save them And then I wondered
why I wasn't doing anything
Because I'm after the story, I
answered myself, but I wasn’t
convinced.
At that moment, two faculty
from the animal labs ran down
to the pond and announced that
we could start washing ducks in
the labs I made a flying grab at a
duck — and missed.
It didn’t take long to learn to
work in pairs to trap the ducks,
who by now were agitated and
honking and flapping and run
ning. More and more people
were running across Franklin
Boulevard to the pond.
Members of the Survival Center
were passing out instructions
on how to wash the ducks.
I helped dry the first duck at
the animal laboratory, one that
seemed to have gotten the
worst of the diesel. It was al
ready half-dead.
As the small room became
overcrowded with stu
dents and ducks, I went
back to the pond to catch
more Ducks. At times
it seemed pointless
The rumors were that
once a duck was coated
with fuel, it had little
chance of surviving no
matter what efforts were
made to save it And the
facilities at the animal labs
were much too small to
accommodate the hun
dreds of ducks and geese
But we persisted
A man with a red beard
and suspenders leapt out
of a canoe into the diesel
covered water to try and
save a duck that appeared
to be drowning
After nearly all had been
rounded up at the Mill
race, I caught a ride to the
University Inn, where stu
dents were doing every
thing they could to keep
about 50 more ducks out
of the canal
I returned to work at 4
p m. smelling like an oil
refinery Another Emerald
reporter had to write the
story
Counterclockwise, from upper left: This diesel oil-drenched duck fared worse than
many of his fellow fowl in the Millrace. Two of the dozens of volunteers who aided
the 338 fowl captured at the Millrace untangle a goose from the butterfly net used
to catch it. Workers from Robert's Environmental Services, a private firm
contracted by the state to clean the spilled diesel oil from the Millrace, use a
vacuum to suck oil from the pond's surface. A pair of volunteers chase an oily duck
who chose to stay in the water rather than seek safety on a drier surface. A woman
cleans a stricken goose in a makeshift bathtub, using a soapy water solution.
Photos by Bob Baker
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