Seagull Rescue

Today was crazy. Dan and I were at Target buying a new headset for his cell phone... because I accidently put his fancy wireless bluetooth super duper headset thingy thru the washer and the dryer. I am such a good homemaker. As we were driving out of the parking lot, I notice a seagull standing near the sidewalk and it didn't look too hot. So, Dan kindly drove around the block again so we can take a second look. Sure enough, the seagull was covered with oil. Knowing that there was an oil spill that weekend affecting wildlife from San Pedro to Santa Barbara, Dan and I decided to capture it. I jumped out of the car and tried to corner it as nicely as possible... knowing that it couldn't use its oiled soaked wings to fly away. It didn't work too well because the poor thing was scared and a pretty good runner. So super Dan jumped out of the truck with his handy dandy sleeping bag, unzipped it, held it up in the air and walked towards the seagull. The seagull was so scared of the walking sleeping bag that it ran right into my hands. So I wrapped the seagull in some clothing and held it by my feet in the car. The seagull took out his frustration on my hands... biting me with his sharp beak... who knew seagulls had extendo-necks. After calling the wildlife center and the seabird pond, we found out that there was bus near the Ventura harbor that was helping all oiled wildlife. So we put the seagull in Yoda's carrier... I'm sure the smell of a cat didnt make the bird more comfortable but it was only for short ride to the harbor. Once we got to the bus, a wildlife expert placed the bird into a cardboard carrier and our good deed of the day was complete. Soon enough, it will be washed with some Dawn soap and hopefully re-released.

On a side note, the seagull was not covered with oil from the ocean... it was covered with cooking oil. Some fast food places and restaurants empty their used cooking oil into large containers outside of the buildings. If left uncovered, bad things happen... seagulls end up in the containers of oil and eventually drown. Some workers just keep pouring the hot oil into the containers even if there are live or dead birds floating in them. It happened at the good ol' Carls Jr in SB. I wish I could throw hot oil on those stupid people.



This pelican wasn't one of the lucky birds to survive the oil spill...