A devastating oil spill in the San Francisco Bay that impacted thousands of seabirds had a silver lining. It turned out to be the spark to form the International Bird Rescue, an organization aimed at responding to oil spills and rehabilitating injured birds.
The organization, which has a center in Fairfield, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a pair of events: a virtual one in May and possibly an in-person one later in the fall.
Russ Curtis, the center’s technology manager and public relations lead, was thrilled with the organization’s growth and attributed a lot of it to backing from the community.
“Without the community’s support and volunteers’ support, we wouldn’t be here 50 years later,” he said. “We really rely on, not only donations from the public, but donation hours in the form of volunteers who are the backbone of so much of what we do.”
International Bird Rescue was founded in 1971, the same year two Standard Oil tankers collided near the Golden Gate Bridge, spilling more than 800,000 gallons of crude oil and covering nearly 7,000 birds.
Curtis said this spill “pointed out the real need for an organization that would take care of wildlife.” A retired nurse named Alice Berkner was among the many volunteers assisting in the rehabilitation of oiled birds at the time and was instrumental in establishing a center to care for birds.
As a result, the International Bird Rescue was founded in a space above the Berkeley Humane Society with early financial support from Standard Oil — now Chevron — and moved to the Berkeley Aquatic Park in 1975. Over time, a new center was opened in Cordelia and a rapid response center was opened in Anchorage, Alaska.
Another game change for International Bird Rescue, Curtis said, was the spillage of 11 million gallons of oil from the Exxon Valdez tanker in 1989. This catastrophic event prompted Congress to pass the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which was signed into law by then-President George H.W. Bush.
“Because of the incredible amount of oil that ended up in the water in Prince William Sound…Congress was really forced to move and put in more controls with the oil industry, which mandated that — in the event of an oil spill — wildlife would be just as important as cleaning the beaches,” Curtis said.
International Bird Rescue has become a leader in the bird rehabilitation movement. The duckling featured on bottles of Dawn dish soap was one rescued from an oil spill, and the organization has responded to everything from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill to the 2000 Treasure Spill, where 20,000 penguins were rehabilitated off the coast of South Africa.
Overall, International Bird Rescue is estimated to have rescued and cared for 125,000 birds on six continents since its inception. Local responses have included the rescue of nesting herons and egrets after a tree crashed into a sidewalk in downtown Oakland, the frequent appearances of common murres washing up on California’s shores every summer and the spilling of a “mystery goo” in the East Bay, which resulted in 400 birds being brought into the center.
“With our experience, it allowed us to move quickly and make sure that we took care of those (birds),” Curtis said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, a virtual anniversary event is scheduled for May 15. Dubbed the “Groovy Gathering” — in honor of the time period in which International Bird Rescue was founded — Curtis said the event was “not your average Zoom party.” The fundraiser will feature a keynote speaker, virtual bar, silent auction, trivia, stories and more. Attendees will also have the option to view a demonstration on how to make a secret sangria recipe by Drag Taste — a drag entertainment company out of Portugal — and receive a limited edition hand-dipped tie-dye T-shirts to wear for the event.
In fact, Curtis said ’70s clothing is highly encouraged.
“It’s really gonna be a gathering that harkens back to the 1970s,” he said. “People are welcome to find their old bell bottom jeans and bandanas.”
An in-person event with live music is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 17 at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. Curtis said this would be dependent on where things stand with the pandemic, but he is confident most people will have been vaccinated by then.
For the next 50 years, Curtis said International Bird Rescue would continue to educate others on the importance of water birds and plan to respond to any wildlife crisis, both in the U.S. and abroad.
“An organization that we’re a part of is Wildlife Care Network,” he said. “We continue to do drills around that and educate ourselves about the best care for wildlife.”
The Groovy Gathering will be held 5 to 8 p.m. May 15 over Zoom. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to Birdrescue.org/groovy.
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International Bird Rescue celebrating 50 years - Vallejo Times-Herald
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