Canada protects its environment, just not its wildlife
The Canadian government ensures that any oil spill is cleaned up to the best of its abilities, at the cost of the persons at fault. While we should applaud these laws, it is disturbing to learn that wildlife does not count as part of the Canadian environment.
Federal and provincial law focuses on cleaning the environment to ensure as few animals are affected as possible. However, wildlife rehabilitation and its inherent costs are not legally required or covered.
Currently, wildlife affected by oil spills are taken in by wildlife rehabilitation centres across B.C. These facilities are charities that receive no funding from government, and rely solely on public donations and volunteers. They cannot afford or handle a sudden, large influx of oiled animals.
Helping these animals, largely birds, is not as simple as a bath. A single bird requires multiple trained professionals working with specialized equipment over a period of hours or days. In 2011, the Oiled Wildlife Trust noted B.C. lacks the facilities and equipment required to adequately rehabilitate oiled wildlife.
The biggest threat to birds, and why they are most at risk during an oil spill, is that oil disrupts their feather shield. Feathers keep birds warm and dry, but must be arranged properly to ensure there are no gaps.
Unfortunately, when this feather shield is disrupted, birds have a hard time regulating their body temperature. Instinctively, they attempt to rearrange their feathers through preening. However, as they do this, they ingest the oil on their feathers.
The deadly combination of poisoning, temperature shock and inability to fly properly is responsible for their many deaths. This could be the result for the 573 bird species that live in and around our B.C. waters.
In 2015, English Bay, off Vancouver, suffered an oil spill. The Oiled Wildlife Society of B.C., Focus Wildlife and the Wildlife Rescue Association, all located in Vancouver and Burnaby, mobilized the wildlife response to this spill. The Wildlife Rescue Association alone estimated its costs to be $21,000, none of which was covered under the cleanup efforts. Although exact numbers aren’t available, experts described the spill as small.
Large oil spills, however, would quickly overwhelm existing wildlife rehabilitation centres. Tankers proposed by Enbridge in its 2010 application were eight times the size of the Exxon Valdez tanker that contaminated more than 2,000 kilometres of Alaskan coastline. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Council estimated that this spill killed 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbour seals, 250 bald eagles and as many as 22 orcas.
Canada lags behind other countries in its oiled-wildlife response. The United States has legally required wildlife care in the case of an oil spill since the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, as have the European Union and New Zealand. It is evident that many models exist for government or private-sector funding of oiled-wildlife rehabilitation.
It is time for Canada to insist that wildlife rehabilitation be legally required and paid for in the case of an oil spill. British Columbians want a clean environment, and that includes wildlife. Laura Shaw, who has volunteered at the B.C. SPCA’s Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre over the past year, has a BSc in zoology.