birding-aus The best way to clean a bird caught up in an oil spill

["Tony PALLISER" <>]

Accidently found this while surfing the web yesterday and thought it  
might come in handy one day. 
 
The best way of removing oil from a bird is to 
'Dust it with fine iron powder and then comb the feathers with a magnet' 
 
John Orbell and colleagues at Victoria University of Technology in  
Melbourne, Australia, say that the best way to clean up a bird caught  
in an oil spill is to dust it with fine iron powder and then comb the  
feathers with a magnet. Ten combings remove 97 per cent of all types of  
oil - without damaging the feathers as can happen when these are  
scrubbed with detergents.  
 
The iron powder is cheap, plentiful, nontoxic and non-irritant, and the 
cleaning process is quicker and less stressful for the birds.  
 
 
 
Regards 
Tony 
 

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