Along the Washington and Oregon Coasts an algae bloom is killing hundreds, maybe even thousands, of seabirds. The algae removes the waterproofing protection on the bird’s feathers. Therefore, they cannot fly, swim, or dive properly. In the end, the birds are breaching themselves and eventually starving to death.
PAWS Wildlife Center, in Lynnwood (Snohomish County), is taking in more than a hundred birds to help clean the algae off of their feathers. The wildlife center is a few hundred miles inland, but they are helping save the bird’s lives.
To remove the algae from the feathers, the birds have to be dipped into and out of tanks and some of the birds are so bad that they are cleaned by hand. It will take about a week to clean the birds before they are released again. However, instead of the coast they will be released into the Puget Sound.
This is a very expensive effort for the PAWS Wildlife Center, but at least they are helping.
