Laughing gull making progress after covered in diesel oil
By MEGHAN McCOY
Although one of the two laughing gulls that arrived at CROW the last week of December died from being covered in diesel oil, the second is on its way to a full recovery.
Dr. Krystal Woo, an intern at CROW, said the two laughing gulls were found in the bottom level of a shrimp boat on Fort Myers Beach covered in oil. Once the gulls arrived at CROW they were given warm water baths and cleaned with Dawn detergent.
Woo said it was important to keep them warm during the bath because oil, and Dawn can affect their feather quality. She said they used Dawn because according to the International Bird Recuse the detergent removes most oils, is effective at low concentrations and is nonirritating to the skin.
Once the bath was completed, the gulls were rinsed well, dried with a hairdryer and put under heat lamps.
With the initial care, both laughing gulls were walking by the end of the day.
The second day, the larger of the two laughing gulls still had a strong oil smell, so it underwent a second bath. The smaller of the two just received warm tub time.
Woo said the larger gull seemed to have had a higher dose of oil and was darker in color.
Unfortunately the larger of the two gulls died Friday, Dec. 30.
The smaller laughing gull is doing well and had begun the waterproofing cycles Tuesday, Jan. 3. Woo said the waterproofing is done with warm water to help the feathers. Over the next four or five days, she said the temperature would begin to decrease, to ensure the gull would remain warm with its feathers in cooler temperatures.
After the waterproofing cycle, the gull would then be placed outside to make sure it can fly normally and continues to eat normally.
“It might be another few weeks,” Woo said of when it would be released into the wild. “It depends on how he was flying.”