Cleaning Gulf-oiled birds

Near the mouth of the Mississippi River, oil soaked pelicans, one-by one, are getting cleaned up, fed, and returned to the wild. A volunteer from Sonoma County explains the process.

As Executive Director of the Sonoma County Bird Rescue Center, Doris Duncan (seen below in the process of hosing down an oily pelican in Louisiana) has considerable experience working with large seabirds. She says the same is true of everyone at the cleaning facility that was hastily erected at the historic site of Fort Jackson.

The majority of the rescued birds are large brown pelicans, such as those seen in this holding pen. Duncan says they are fed and protected while awaiting their turn to be cleaned.