Oilapalooza: Through the Eyes of Our Network
A four-part mini series written by our grant winners
Hi, I’m Maria Korte, from SeaWorld San Diego! I have been a member of OWCN since 2013, when I was on the marine mammal rescue team at SeaWorld. I went to my first Oilapalooza that SeaWorld hosted that year and was hooked! Since then, I helped intake some oiled sea lions at SeaWorld during the Refugio oil spill in 2015, and was on a hot shot team for the Pipeline P00547 spill in Orange County in 2021.
I have had many roles within SeaWorld, including education, rescue, marine mammal training, and currently I serve as the zoological registrar within my park, coordinating animal transports and keeping up to date with records, permits, and compliance.
This was my 5th Oilapalooza conference and I always look forward to seeing people I don’t often get to see, in a great environment. It’s great reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. The passion of everyone at the conference is infectious, and I always feel excited to bring back that excitement to SeaWorld.
I learned how to communicate and work with people from other organizations during the drill setting. During the field stabilization portion of the drill, my team was challenged with a pile up of animal intakes, and we were able to coordinate our efforts to ensure the best outcome. I definitely will take back the idea that we need to take care of ourselves and each other so that we can best care for the animals. This message was spread throughout the entire conference. I’m so glad this is being emphasized because when we are not at our best, we cannot be the best for the animals.
Thank you OWCN for another great Oilapalooza conference, and I cannot wait for the next one!
