Spills of Christmas Past - A Three Part Story

My name is Wendy Massey and I’ve cared for oiled animals since I was a kid but have only officially been responding to spills since 1992. So, in those 32 years, I’ve responded to well over 200 spills. This holiday season I am going to share the story of my favorite spill.

The M/V Citrus Spill

Part One

Between the 17th and 20th of February 1996, reports began to trickle in from the Pribilof Islands. Hundreds of oiled birds were showing up in distress, and word reached the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Alaska. The Pribilof Islands are an isolated group of islands in the Bering Sea, consisting of St. Paul and St. George. They're about 800 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, but to be honest it always felt much farther to me!

At the time, I was working with the International Bird Rescue and Research Center (IBR), where I had spent the majority of my career. Even though there was no confirmed spill in the area, we were quickly activated. A small group from IBR, including myself, boarded a plane to Anchorage where we set up our primary care center. Upon arrival we were greeted with two oiled Common Murres that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) had flown back to Anchorage for initial treatment. It was clear that the situation was serious, but what we didn’t yet know was just how big it would get.

The Alaska Wildlife Response Center (AWRC), where IBR managed spill response efforts, was sponsored by Alaska Clean Seas, a cooperative response organization, and Alyeska Pipeline Services, which represented some of the largest oil production companies in the state. The AWRC had been designed to handle large-scale wildlife rehabilitation efforts, and IBR’s role there was crucial.

Assessment on St. Paul Island
Curt Clumpner and Ken Brewer, two of IBR’s seasoned responders, were sent to St. Paul to assess the situation. They needed to determine if we could set up a temporary rehabilitation facility there or if we would have to fly the birds back to Anchorage for more intensive care.

After assessing the site, Curt determined that while it would be possible to stabilize the birds on the island, it wasn’t feasible to conduct full rehabilitation there. The decision was made to stabilize the oiled birds on-site and then fly them back to Anchorage for treatment. This meant we needed to prepare for a large influx of oiled birds, but we didn’t yet know the full scope of the situation.

My task was to prepare our primary care facility in Anchorage to accommodate what could become an overwhelming number of birds. At that time, the AWRC was being managed by Bird TLC, who had been entrenched in the center for years. We were going to need to completely vacate their space to make room for the incoming patients. That was no small feat, as they had a long-standing presence there, but time was of the essence.

Challenges in a Winter Wonderland
February in Alaska is cold—very cold—and there was a lot of snow on the ground. I had to quickly figure out how to make space for the intake, pre-wash care, washing, drying, and conditioning areas we would need for up to 300 birds. This required setting up distinct areas inside the building, each with different temperature control zones to suit the various stages of the birds’ rehabilitation. Managing these logistical details in a cold, snow-filled environment was a major challenge because every rehabilitation step occurred inside the building!

We also had to set up multiple pools for the birds to swim and exercise in as part of their recovery process, which meant ensuring each area had the proper water conditions. This required a lot of improvisation and coordination with the resources we had on hand, and again, this all took place inside.

But the real complexity came from the sheer number of birds we were expecting. At that point, we were just starting to understand the scale of the crisis. The work ahead would be grueling, but the birds were counting on us, and we were determined to be ready.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where I’ll dive into the specifics of the rehab process and the extraordinary challenges we faced as the M/V Citrus spill continued to unfold.

I’ll be back soon with more from the trenches of spill response.