An oil-covered gull has been washed and is being rehabilitated at the Wildlife Orphanage and Rehabilitation Centre in Trinidad, the first to be rescued from series of spills affecting the coastline of southwestern Trinidad.
Cleanup efforts are underway, with Oil Spill Response (OSRL) providing equipment and expertise from their US facility, and an investigation into the possibility of sabotage at one of the spill sites has begun. Although the spills were initially reported on Wednesday 18 December 2013 only limited numbers of animals affected by the oil have been reported to date.
In addition to the gull in treatment and a second oiled bird brought to the Centre that did not survive, there have been reports of several dead pelicans covered in oil, some birds that are oiled but still able to fly and two oiled caiman observed in a mangrove near the one of the spill sites.
In November, an oiled wildlife response training session was held in Trinidad. Staff from Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research and the Sea Alarm Foundation trained local personnel in oiled wildlife rescue, stabilisation, and cleaning, in addition to response planning and facility design and management.
Update 31 December 2013: The number of spills in Trinidad has increased to 11 with five at Petrotrin locations, five at Trinity exploration sites and one at the Moruga site of Neal and Massey. There have been no further reports of birds or other wildlife being rescued from the oil.