Public Warned – Don’t Clean Oil-Soaked Birds

February 22nd, 2008

The public have been told that they may be doing more harm than good when trying to clean up oil-soaked sea birds on the Kent coast.

There has been an increase in sea bird casualties since the Greek ‘Ice Prince’ sunk off the Dorset coast last month. Concerned members of the public have been cleaning the birds and returning them to the wild - but a spokesman from Wildlife Care Line said that this might be actually killing the birds, as the cleaning process acutally takes about 2 months – to allow the birds natural oils to return.

The Care Line would like the public to help catch the birds, but not clean them.

From: Kent Online