Moreton Bay's oil slick pelicans set for release

---------



---------

THIRTEEN pelicans affected by the Moreton Bay oil spill will be released back into the wild this week after they were given a clean bill of health. The birds, all females, have been recovering on the Gold Coast at a purpose-built facility at the State Government's David Fleay Wildlife Park.

The pelicans have been at the enclosure, dubbed 'Club Pelican', for almost four weeks where they have had a holiday to recover while the oil-stricken bay was cleaned up. The squadron is the last of the more than 100 birds affected by the oil spill to return home.

Chief adviser of the incident response unit for the Department of Environment and Resource Management Mike Short said although it was good news to see the release of the birds, the full extent the incident had on the animal population, would never be known.

"Two sea birds and one sea snake died as a result of the spill but of course with oil at sea what happens is the oil gets on the feathers and makes birds very heavy," he said. "They have great problems in flying, floating on the water and they actually sink and drown. "So it's very likely that a lot more animals would have died as a result of this event but we wouldn't have seen them."

The pelicans were originally taken to a Lytton facility set up to cater for oiled birds.

Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones who visited the David Fleay Wildlife Park yesterday said animals that required specialised treatment included 13 Australian pelicans, one sacred kingfisher, one lesser crested tern, two silver gulls and one sea snake. "At Lytton, the birds were stabilised, hydrated with fluids, fed fish and specially washed," she said.

More: http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/05/11/77611_gold-coast-news.html