{"id":877,"date":"2012-01-13T15:38:23","date_gmt":"2012-01-13T05:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=877"},"modified":"2012-01-19T15:44:23","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T05:44:23","slug":"massey-vets-on-hand-for-oil-spill-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=877","title":{"rendered":"Massey vets on hand for oil spill response"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>New Zealand’s Massey University has led the wildlife response to the oil spill caused by the grounding of the Rena <\/em>cargo ship on Astrolabe reef at the entrance to the port of Tauranga, in October.\r\n\r\nThe National Oiled Wildlife Response Team is trained, managed and co-ordinated by specialists at the university’s New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre in Palmerston North, under contract to Maritime New Zealand.\r\n\r\nIts members include vets, pathologists and wildlife technicians. Regional councils around the country also contribute personnel.\r\n\r\n<\/a><\/a> Wildlife veterinarians Kerri Morgan and Helen McConnell co-ordinate the wildlife response and are assisted by other university veterinary staff, including Brett Gartrell and veterinary residents and technicians.\r\n\r\nGartrell, who manages the wildlife response facility, said staff have treated more than 400 animals at the centre.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe have a three stage system to stabilise, clean and then rehabilitate animals,\u201d he said. \u201cAll animals affected by the oil are washed but it takes a number of days for them to regain waterproofing.\u201d\r\n\r\nBirds with specific health issues are held in an intensive care unit led by one of four Massey vets. Massey wildlife veterinarian Micah Jensen said the birds the unit have treated have had a range of ailments.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere are birds that have picked up respiratory infections, one had a cloacal prolapse, another had a corneal ulcer,\u201d Jensen said.Birds in the unit are monitored closely. \u201cWe give them all checks every morning and evening,\u201d she said. \u201cThey get excellent intensive care, as we are around the patients all day long.\u201d\r\n\r\nJensen, who is one of four wildlife veterinarians in Massey\u2019s resident program, said the experience at the facility was invaluable.\r\n\r\n\u201cAs a wildlife vet resident it is intensely rewarding to do this kind of work,\u201d she said. \u201cThe penguins are adorable, they are very full of character and are really nice to work with. Each one is quite individual and they are really personable, spirited and vocal. They let you know if you\u2019re doing something they don\u2019t like – there\u2019s no grey area.\u201d\r\n\r\nMassey wildlife technician Pauline Conayne, who manages much of the wildlife operation\u2019s rosters and logistics, said caring for the birds once they are washed and healthy is a big job.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe penguins all need to be fed twice daily,\u201d she said. \u201cIt takes about three hours for each feed. We\u2019re going through more than 160kg of anchovies a day, and all of the penguins have to be hand fed. Penguins won\u2019t eat dead fish themselves so it takes time for us to feed them by hand.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs well as feeding, the birds are also weighed and checked regularly. \u201cWe need to keep an eye on every individual and ensure they\u2019re dealing well with captivity.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Massey University-led wildlife response to the oil spill has been praised as one of the quickest in the world, thanks to excellent foresight and planning systems.\r\n\r\nAlternate Wildlife Centre manager Curt Clumpner, who has worked on numerous oil spills since the Exxon Valdez Alaska disaster, said New Zealand\u2019s response was one of the quickest he had seen.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe speed of response in New Zealand is among the top two or three countries in the world,\u201d said Clumpner, an American from International Bird Rescue. \u201cThe wildlife response centre was set up and ready to clean birds within a day of the grounding. That\u2019s incredibly quick compared to other spills I\u2019ve been involved in.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe team at Massey University has been planning for this for years and they have been constantly updating their training. It\u2019s especially impressive given that New Zealand hasn\u2019t had a major oil spill before.\u201d\r\n\r\nGartrell teaches the Avian Medicine paper in Massey\u2019s Master of Veterinary Medicine program. The course aims to develop knowledge of the medicine and surgery of birds, both wild and captive.\r\n\r\nMassey\u2019s Master of Veterinary Medicine is open to veterinarians worldwide. The modular distance program lets veterinarians choose single units of study in a topic of interest, or an entire master’s program.\u00a0Each course covers a particular aspect of veterinary medicine in detail, such as canine and feline oncology, and is taught by an internationally-renowned lecturer.\r\n\r\nCaption: Janelle Ward and Brett Gartrell release little blue penguins into a purpose-built enclosure at the Oiled Wildlife Facility.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand’s Massey University has led the wildlife response to the oil spill caused by the grounding of the Rena cargo ship on Astrolabe reef at the entrance to the port of Tauranga, in October. The National Oiled Wildlife Response Team is trained, managed and co-ordinated by specialists at the university’s New Zealand Wildlife Health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[196,656,143,628,659,654,42,658,39,663,661,660,655,662,657],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-196","tag-astrolabe-reef","tag-december","tag-december-2011","tag-disaster","tag-disaster-response","tag-massey-university","tag-national-oiled-wildlife-response-team","tag-new-zealand","tag-oil","tag-oil-spill","tag-oiled-animals","tag-rena","tag-spill","tag-tauranga"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":5,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":402,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5,"category_count":402,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"New Zealand’s Massey University has led the wildlife response to the oil spill caused by the grounding of the Rena cargo ship on Astrolabe reef at the entrance to the port of Tauranga, in October. The National Oiled Wildlife Response Team is trained, managed and co-ordinated by specialists at the university’s New Zealand Wildlife Health Centre in Palmerston North, under..","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"5":{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=5"}},"tags_names":{"196":{"name":"2011","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=2011"},"656":{"name":"Astrolabe Reef","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=astrolabe-reef"},"143":{"name":"December","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=december"},"628":{"name":"December 2011","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=december-2011"},"659":{"name":"disaster","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=disaster"},"654":{"name":"disaster response","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=disaster-response"},"42":{"name":"Massey University","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=massey-university"},"658":{"name":"National Oiled Wildlife Response Team","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=national-oiled-wildlife-response-team"},"39":{"name":"New Zealand","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=new-zealand"},"663":{"name":"oil","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=oil"},"661":{"name":"oil spill","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=oil-spill"},"660":{"name":"oiled animals","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=oiled-animals"},"655":{"name":"Rena","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=rena"},"662":{"name":"spill","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=spill"},"657":{"name":"Tauranga","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=tauranga"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=877"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions\/880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}