The Response Force Multiplier
Welcome to The Response Force Multiplier, the OSRL Podcast. On The Response Force Multiplier, we explore all aspects of emergency planning and response, through conversations with compelling experts and thought leaders, providing a fresh take on key issues and cutting-edge techniques in this field. In each episode, we’ll dive into one aspect of emergency planning and response using OSRL’s unique pool of experts and collaborators to gain new insights and to distil these down into actionable tools and techniques for better preparedness and response to crisis incidents and emergencies.
Emergency Response, Crisis Management, Emergency Planning
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The Response Force Multiplier
Beyond Bird Washing: A Deeper Look at Wildlife Emergency Response
In this episode we explore some of the challenges in responding to wildlife emergencies. Our guest is Dr. Michael Ziccardi, a wildlife veterinarian with over 30 years of experience in oil wildlife preparedness and response. Dr. Ziccardi has been at the forefront of numerous wildlife rescue operations in the US and around the world. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the One Health Institute at the University of California, Davis and Director Emeritus of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.
We explore the complexities of wildlife response in oil spills, and how the technical understanding, the response strategies and systems have been developed over the years. Dr. Ziccardi shares his insights on the challenges and advancements in this field, the importance of preparedness, and the collaborative efforts required to protect wildlife.
Please give us ★★★★★, leave a review, and tell your friends about us as each share and like makes a difference.
Hello and welcome to the Response Force Multiplier, a podcast that explores emergency planning and response. On the Response Force Multiplier, we bring together compelling experts and thought leaders to provide a fresh take on key issues and cutting edge techniques in this field. In each episode we'll dive into one aspect and we'll use OSRL's unique pool of experts and collaborators to distill that down into actual tools and techniques for better preparedness and response to incidents and emergencies. My name is Emma Smiley, we are OSRL and this is the Response Force Multiplier. And this is the Response Force Multiplier.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the Response Force Multiplier with OSRL. In this episode, we'll be exploring some of the challenges in responding to wildlife emergencies. Our guest is Dr Michael Zaccardi, a wildlife veterinarian with over 30 years of experience in old wildlife preparedness and response. Dr Sakadi has been at the forefront of numerous wildlife rescue operations both in the US and around the world. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the One Health Institute at the University of California Davis and is also Director Emeritus of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network in California.
Speaker 2:We'll explore the complexities of wildlife response in oil spills and how the technical understanding, the response strategies and the systems have been developed over the years. Dr Zaccardi shares his insights on the challenges and advancements in this field, the importance of preparedness and the collaborative efforts required to protect wildlife. So get ready to learn about the incredible work involved in responding to wildlife emergencies. Let's dive into my interview with Dr Michael Zaccardi. Well, thanks so much for doing this, Mike. I really appreciate it. So I suppose, just to start things off, let me just ask you to briefly describe your background and your role.
Speaker 3:Happy to join you on this, paul. My background is I'm a wildlife veterinarian. I've been so for more than 30 years really, with my career dedicated to better understanding and mitigating effects of oil on wildlife. So did my veterinary degree, with an emphasis on free-ranging wildlife, and moved on and did a master's and a PhD specifically looking at how we can detect oil in animals that aren't physically covered, then an oiled wildlife preparedness and response for more than 30 years. Some of my first spills involved here in California, but followed that working with the Oil Wildlife Care Network here in California to help us establish and continue the program here. And since then I've actually moved into the executive director role at the One Health Institute here at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, getting more involved in broader aspects in addition to the global oil wildlife preparedness response work, also working more at the One Health Interface disaster response, now in charge of the disaster response program for california that involved domestic animals and livestock as well.
Speaker 2:Jack of all trades, master of none, I guess, is probably the best way to say it well, I'm not sure about the latter, but I think that's obviously one of the reasons why it's good to talk to you about this particular subject, because not only have you been involved in it for a long time, but you've seen it from many different perspectives and, in california, globally, different types of spills and challenges. So hopefully we can get into some of that here, sure, but I think a natural starting point is, I think, first of all, just to understand how oil and other contaminants actually affect wildlife, because obviously that's the basis of understanding how to respond effectively. So, just for those that aren't so familiar, I guess, in terms of the impacts and, I suppose, the types of animals that we're most likely dealing with those kinds of incidents, sure?
Speaker 3:well, first it's important to understand oil. There are literally thousands of different compounds in oil and there are hundreds of different oil products, and so every oil spill is different. Every region of the world is different in how that affects animals. But really, as far as the acute effects, we kind of divide it up into external effects and internal effects. For birds and heavily furred mammals usually, usually the external effects are the ones that we're most concerned about, so the actual physical coating of the animals due to oil.
Speaker 3:Some of the main reasons why animals are so at risk, especially those species, is because they use their feathers or their fur to stay warm in a cold environment. So what the feathers do is trap a layer of air next to the skin and it's that insulative property of the air next to them that keeps animals warm, especially bobbing along in the cold water. So think of it as a dry suit for us. What happens with oil is it creates a hole in that dry suit, allows water to seep next to the skin. They can get very cold very quickly. When they get cold they have to maintain their core body temperature. Their metabolism goes up to try to stay warm. They also can no longer stay at the surface of the water, especially for birds and mammals that need to be right at that air-water interface. So they have to expend more energy to stay up at that level and because of these things they can't dive under the water to forage for food items, which they need for nutrition as well as for hydration. So really it's this combined effect of that external problems which they can become debilitated and actually die in a matter of hours due to that coating.
Speaker 3:Now for the internal exposure. One of the ways birds and furred mammals try to repair that dry suit is by preening or grooming the oil off and so really trying to remove that oil, and by doing that they can actually ingest oil. Ingesting oil can literally affect every organ in the entire body Respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys. It can affect the reproductive system as well. So not only do you have this external exposure which is causing problems, but you have the ingestion which can cause more chronic effects. So even if animals can repair that damage or we can go out, capture them, rehabilitate them and release them, they can have these chronic effects that go on for literally years. So it's this multisystemic problem which really can cause issues in wildlife species, not only individual animals, but also population level effects, if the spill is significant enough.
Speaker 2:I guess that's what makes it both complex and complicated. You're dealing with these peak events, but actually how you manage that peak moment ultimately has long-term impacts on wildlife.
Speaker 3:So that journey, I guess, of understanding how to actually respond effectively and take both of those things into consideration so absolutely so it's one of the reasons why, over the past 30 years or so, we've spent a lot of time and effort, money, into research to better understand not only how to respond more rapidly and to care for animals better in the facilities, but really understanding those long-term chronic effects to really help us direct our therapies and direct our response capabilities to do the best good for the most animals that are involved response capabilities to do the best good for the most animals that are involved.
Speaker 2:In terms of how do you approach that, I think people will generally have their ideas or preconceptions about what is involved in responding to an old wildlife incident, and I think the obvious iconic picture is often the washing oil off animals. It's sometimes the thing that, mistakenly, people might try to do first, but obviously it's much broader than that. So what would be a more complete definition of what wildlife response?
Speaker 3:is Because of the complexity, because of how complicated response can be. Really, the first and best approach is preventative measures, both prevention of oil getting into the environment in the first place, but then also having response strategies, pre-established plans to know how we're going to respond should an incident occur. Really, the core operation is us planning for spills to occur beforehand, and that involves a local preparedness as well as regional or even global preparedness. Beyond that, if a spill does occur, we kind of divide response operations into two main areas both the field operations and then facility operations or the animal care Field operations. First thing is getting out there, doing initial reconnaissance, seeing what animals are at risk, what's the extent of the oil, where the oil is going and what populations might be at risk, better understanding the overall picture of what's going on. So doing that assessment and the reconnaissance based on that information. Then getting out there and really trying to keep animals from being oiled in the first place. So the easiest way to care for an oiled animal is for it not to be oiled at all. So doing hazing and deterrence, trying to scare animals away from the oil spill so they're safe, or actually attracting them to safer areas if we can. If all of those things don't work and animals are indeed oiled, it's then going out there quickly with trained and skilled personnel to be able to capture animals, to be able to collect them safely, start to do initial first aid as quickly as possible. So, as I mentioned earlier, some of the issues are often them getting oil, not being able to eat, not being hydrated in the environment. So if we can actually develop stations right close to where animals are captured and affected and start to reverse those initial effects before we can bring them to a facility, providing that first aid is really crucial. Aid is really crucial Only then organizing them to come back to a facility where we can start to do full examinations to determine exactly what's going on with the animals, providing initial aid there, doing examinations, taking a small amount of blood, doing full physical exams to see what the internal effects might be, then giving them good hydration, good nutrition and giving them some time to get over the shock of being oiled and out of the environment.
Speaker 3:As you mentioned, some of the things we think about is the bird or the mammal being washed immediately. That's actually one of the worst things to do because that's very stressful for the animals. So what we want to do is to give them some time to get over that initial shock, get them as stable as possible before we then wash. One of the reasons why, unless they absolutely have to, people don't rush them into the emergency room to do surgery they try to make sure they're stable before doing that, once the animals are washed completely, before doing that.
Speaker 3:Once the animals are washed completely, they do also need to be rinsed. It's interesting that the contaminant on the feathers or the fur we can wash off using dishwashing liquid, but the soap can also be a contaminant, so we actually have to rinse all that soap off. And what that does? It allows the structure of the feathers or the structure of the fur to regain that normal waterproofing capabilities so that they can then, over time, return to normal function. And only when we are comfortable and confident that they are absolutely as normal as they can be will we consider releasing them back into a clean environment, assuming that the environment's been de-oiled in the first place. So very complex, complicated process and much beyond just the simple wash that we do see and know.
Speaker 2:It's interesting because you're essentially describing a race against time at the beginning, but then one that then has to be methodical and considered in terms of making the right choices for the right animals and then having people who understand what those choices are.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. As you mentioned, getting out there quickly and getting them out of the environment and into a captive environment to rehabilitate them, it's crucial, but the longer we hold them, the more likely they are to get secondary problems. These are wild animals. They're not used to being indoors, they're not used to being handled or stressed by us, and so we need to get them out of the environment quickly, but we need to get them back into a clean environment quickly as well, so it is a balancing act on both ends to be able to do the best we can for those animals that are on crisis.
Speaker 2:So you're describing a very sophisticated approach to this, and it's evolved as a field of response over the years. Obviously, lots has been learned. How long has old wildlife response been around? I mean, what did it look like in the early days? And then, what have been some of those key developments between then and now?
Speaker 3:There are actually reports from the early 1900s of individual oiled animals being on the beach and people coming across them. But as far as what we consider professionalized, organized efforts around oiled wildlife response, really it's only from the mid to late 1960s to early 1970s where organizations devoted themselves for large-scale responses that were occurring Torrey Canyon in the UK, some of the spills that were happening in California around that time. Really it was about that time, which also aligns itself with the environmental awakening surrounding DDT and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, for example. It's about that time where organizations became more aware and tried to professionalize wildlife response. So really only the past 50 years or so, A lot has been learned since that time as far as how to care for animals, how to keep people safe in addition to caring for those animals.
Speaker 3:Some of the early reports are trying to clean oiled birds with gasoline or some real caustic products, which did remove the oil, but it did also cause damage to the animals.
Speaker 3:We've learned over time by doing additional spills, by putting research towards it, by sharing information amongst organizations as far as the best way possible, really made advances in our better ability to care for animals and to de-oil them and to better understand the internal effects as well, Because some of those more subtle chronic effects are the ones that are very, very difficult to understand.
Speaker 3:So a lot of the advances have been both for generalized rehabilitation techniques, but then also understanding and collecting the data necessary to learn from each incident and from each oiled animals as we go. Some of that is learning, once they leave our hands, what happens to them in the environment. So actually putting tracking devices on animals and releasing them and following them over time see just how well they do, or whether or not they actually perish in the environment or don't return to normal reproductive function as well. So learning everything we can as we go has really pushed the science and the profession forward in the past 50 years, I guess that's one of the challenges that's always put is the efficacy of wildlife response and in terms of those internal effects.
Speaker 2:we're understanding more and more all the time right about those impacts and the effects from recent incidents and particular species that get involved. So how effective can we be, especially when considering those internal effects, and what else do we need to know? What else do we need to consider to be more effective in that way?
Speaker 3:Again, continuing to apply the advances in veterinary medicine towards wildlife response, better understanding the more subtle effects absolutely crucial, especially for the more chronic effects.
Speaker 3:Prior to 2010, we really didn't think that cetacea, whales and dolphins were substantially affected during oil spills. And then Macondo, where deepwater horizon occurred, and what we found is, following the animals in Barataria Bay just offshore of the state of Louisiana, refined chronic effects that we were never aware of before. And just by having the ability to follow animals that were not externally oiled but were swimming in an area where an oil spill occurred, and applying good science to those animals, we actually see things that we've never seen before as far as the effects and reproductive efforts, challenges in lung function and chronic disease in those animals. And so by learning that what that does is that allows us to better implement strategies for protection, making sure that, especially in populations, say, of coastal bottomless dolphins in that area, realizing that keeping that oil out of those environments is so crucial for long-term survival of a species we never knew that before, but having the ability to apply the strong science towards it, we're learning things that we didn't even realize before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, that's amazing and really important. And the other part of this that we haven't really touched on. In this podcast we've looked at different elements of emergency response, oil spill response. So you're talking about this very complicated field in and of itself, with all of these moving parts, and generally that's happening in the context of a wider response to an oil spill incident that is having all sorts of other impacts, and there's cleanup efforts and containment efforts. So what's the integration between that? Why is that so important?
Speaker 3:Probably one of the stronger advances in the past 20 years or so within the oil spill response community is the realization that an effective oil wildlife response needs to be integrated within the larger structure, considered a terrible action that was done by not-for-profit organizations where animals would go into a warehouse and come out clean the other side but wasn't really understood or appreciated by the emergency response community as far as what goes into it.
Speaker 3:And over the past 20 years or so, we've spent a lot of time as oil wildlife professionals trying to learn the language of emergency response as a whole and to realize the information that the emergency response community needs from wildlife professionals so that we could speak their language, so they would understand our language. So by being more responsive by providing data, by providing information on a real-time basis that can inform decision-making for cleanup operators, for planners, for media reasons, because usually people want to know what's going on with wildlife during an oil spill response so by becoming part of the system, it's actually helping us respond better to animals in crisis, but it's also providing the information that the larger oil spill response community needs to be able to do the best thing possible. So it's that integration that's been absolutely crucial and it's only more recently has that been understood and really embraced, both by wildlife rehabilitators as well as oil spill responders.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's absolutely key, and I guess California is one example of where that integration takes place. And you talked about that common language. You talked about the World Wildlife Care Network that you have worked for for many years, so can you just talk a little bit about how that works in relation to the network as a system for preparing and responding to incidents and how that actually then integrates into that statewide or wider response?
Speaker 3:Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, and then a larger response in Huntington Beach in California in 1990, the state of California decided that they needed to have a stronger oil spill response system set up within the state. There was federal legislation after Exxon Valdez that helped us to establish a federal system. The state of California decided that was great, but they wanted additional assurances, and so in 1990, legislation occurred which created the Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response, a department of then the Department of Fish and Game. What that did is it created a system to provide best achievable protection of oil spill within the state so that spills such as were happening about that time there was much more infrastructure in place to be able to respond to that. A big part of that to be able to respond to that, a big part of that was being able to respond more effectively to wildlife affected during that time. So in 1994, the OI Wildlife Care Network was formed as part of that department and that was created to provide best achievable care to animals affected in the state. So it directed us to build facilities in five key areas of the state. It also charged the University of California at Davis, as part of the veterinary school to be in charge of that program on behalf of the state.
Speaker 3:So what we've done is in partnership with organizations that were interested in working towards preparedness and response to oil wildlife. We've created a network of 46 organizations throughout the state that all agree to work cooperatively during spill response under a single organizational structure so that no matter where the spill occurs anywhere in the state marine, inland, north coast, south coast, etc. A response can occur rapidly and it's fully integrated into the system. So we've now responded to more than 100 spills in the state. California cared for more than 10,000 animals during those spills. We have over 1,300 people in our database that we can call on at a moment's notice should a spill occur anywhere in the state. We can actually mobilize those people, get them to one or more of 12 purpose-built facilities at this point to start immediately responding to and caring for animals in the state.
Speaker 2:It's a really impressive system and I know certainly, globally speaking, it's looked at as one that lots of other locations and regions have learned from and interacted with. But it's a great example, as you say, of that integration taking place. So that common language that you're using, obviously in terms of incident management, incident response, is ICS, the incident command system or the incident management system. So where exactly does that interface happen? If we're looking at it from an ICS or IMS point of view, because I know that's a role that you end up playing or have played quite often, whether that's in California or elsewhere in the States? Can you just describe a little bit about that, where that sort of command and control structure then interacts with the operational management of the wildlife response?
Speaker 3:In the state of California, wildlife response typically works under the operations section and it's a separate branch within operations called the wildlife branch. So in California the wildlife branch director person in charge of that is a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Typically I'll play a deputy role under that person and I'll take a leadership activities for all the different areas that OWCN is involved with and that's recovery, hazing facility operations, basically everything to do with the hands-on wildlife element. Outside of California it can differ. Different ICS or IMS structures may have more wildlife in planning under the environmental unit. Different systems, different organizations will have different structures.
Speaker 3:The key thing is those individuals that are involved at a command post are talking and so typically for me, if I'm there, I'm working directly under operations and with planning to make sure all of the information is being shared. Whatever we're doing is reported to the people that need it so they can act on it. For example, the environmental unit. Oftentimes they are developing what's called resource at-risk assessments, so they're actually looking at information out there on species both common as well as threatened and endangered species that might be at risk. The information that we're collecting. We're out there collecting animals by providing it to them. They have a better understanding for what resources may be at risk and how better to plan for the days to come should a spill continue to occur. So it's really that integration and understanding that IMS structure and ICS structure to make sure people are getting the information they need and we're providing the data that they require to report out absolutely essential for that integration.
Speaker 2:yeah, because people are obviously tracking the oil and the movements of that, but of course the movements of animals is entirely different and adds a whole other level of complexity to that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, especially for animals that may be lightly oiled and have a flight distance or a swim distance from that. For example, when I was involved in the Macondo Deepwater Horizon oil spill, I helped lead the marine mammal and sea turtle efforts for that response and one of the first things I did there was talk to the biologists that were on scene to determine if a dolphin swam through the oil plume that was occurring at the time and was slightly affected, but not completely debilitated.
Speaker 3:Just what distance could they have swum before they succumbed to the effects of oil? Because that is the distance we needed to actually start searching, and the answer was the entire gulf of mexico. At the time well, and that is before the oil started moving and potentially moving up the eastern seaboard of the us as well. So understanding that and working within the system to get the data you need to be able to mount an effective response absolutely takes a huge amount of input from all sorts of people.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. So you mentioned Macondo, Deepwater Horizon. You've been involved in some big incidents, so before just looking at the US for now, can you just take us into that experience when it is a significant incident and you're getting that call and you're essentially coming in at that sort of ground level in a way where that command structure is really being formed and you're having to really think about those very early priorities? Just curious to describe what that's like. How do you enter that environment? We talked a lot about the challenge of focusing on what you can control and staying in a place where you can affect things in the best way possible. But what's that experience like and how do you approach it? What is it like trying to get things up and running?
Speaker 3:It can be a huge challenge. It's exciting, it's an experience you don't want to have, but trying to create order from chaos is, for better or worse, where my career has ended up for me, so going in it's really trying to get the best information possible, get all of the data you can to make decisions, but needing to make decisions knowing that you're never going to have all the information. First days of Macondo we had no idea how much oil was going to be released, where the oil was going to go, when the spill was going to stop, because we had no idea when the rig would actually be capped. It was a ways off of the coast, so we weren't exactly sure where the oil was going to end up. The species that were at greatest risk in the early days were animals that were out there where the deepwater horizon rig was, and so a lot of those were dolphins, whales, sea turtles. Most of our experience in those species were dealing with them when they washed ashore or stranded in previous spills, but that was only a few spills that those animals had been affected. So we actually had to take our protocols and procedures that we had developed and modify them almost immediately for surveillance and potential recovery of animals tens of kilometers offshore. Responding on a daily basis, where there were five different incident command posts established for the response, and trying to organize information and organize personnel and coming up with not only what was needed today but anticipating what the needs were going to be in the weeks to come. So you could build it and anticipation for that.
Speaker 3:It was an immense challenge For me. Working with the National Marine Fisheries Service, part of our NOAA office, was incredible. We had people from the national office that would come down and work directly with me on trying to scope that out, biologists that knew a huge amount on the species there and the systems that were in place. But by working together with my oil spill expertise, their species expertise and knowing the stranding networks that have been established in the US for that, what we're able to do is to really craft a system that not only could respond to the animals that we were seeing and we were collecting, but also looking forward to things that might have been at risk.
Speaker 3:Manatees were a big issue for us as well, because really oil spills and manatees had never done before and they're very difficult to keep in captivity. So we had to come up with two different facilities that were on standby. Should a manatee be recovered, that was oiled, that needed to be cared for? There was the potential of the oil spill going up the eastern seaboard of the US, so we had to stage and prepare facilities and personnel literally throughout the US just in case the spill continued to expand and not end. It did go on for several months and thankfully the drilling site was capped eventually. But just the number of unknowns that were there and trying to plan for every contingency was a huge, huge undertaking and I'm very proud of the work that we did during that response.
Speaker 2:It's unbelievable to hear you describing it and it takes so much expertise, and of course, the focus is on the technical understanding and know-how to respond to the animals.
Speaker 3:But you're asking personnel to be trained and experienced, but you're also asking them to work under extreme circumstances, as you said, without knowing necessarily when things are going to end, and so, I guess, try and take care of people and allow the whole operation to be somewhat sustainable, and so I can imagine those kinds of things, the things people wouldn't necessarily think about, but it's so, so important, even just the human aspect of being successful with something like this oh, absolutely the sheer immensity of that response, the fact that every single day was 30 to 40 degrees centigrade as far as heat stress and needing to keep people safe in full personal protective equipment but, at the same time, understanding that heat stroke is a very realistic expectation, seeing the destruction, devastation in that, seeing animals in crisis, seeing the cleanup operation that had to occur and not knowing when it was going to end, all of those things did take both a physical as well as a mental toll on the people that responded.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for unpacking that one. It's really interesting just to hear about that response, and we focused quite a lot so far on things happening in the US. Now I mean, if we were to just zoom out a bit and think about the challenges of an incident anywhere in the world, how prepared are we for that compared to the way that response happens in the United States? I know that's a big question, but can you just put a bit of context into how things work in California and the USS in relation to the world at large?
Speaker 3:We're very proud of the preparedness that we have in California. We're very fortunate to not only have the political and legislative support to be able to do it, but also the funding to be able to do it. Different regions throughout the world have different levels of preparedness. You have certain regions, like Brazil, like New Zealand, that have excellent preparedness and organizations that are in place and really rely on global experts to come and help them at the time of a spill and not necessarily having plans in place. And one example of that I can think of is the Prestige oil spill in Galicia, in Spain.
Speaker 3:That was a response where there was no preparedness in place. It was a very heavy product. It was a community that 70% relied on the ocean for its livelihood, as far as the people in those areas relying on it for food, but then also for commerce. That was completely shut down by prestige and oftentimes when that happens, you go in and do as much as you can. There was an excellent response set up by IFAW and the organizations that were involved with that. I was fortunate enough to come in and assist in that, but because of a lot of the preparedness that wasn't there and the fact that a facility had to be constructed and there was just such widespread damage to the environment early on. Many of the animals that were collected early ended up having to be humanely euthanized because it was the only thing we could do for some of those animals that came in. It was very unlikely that they would be able to be rehabilitated and successfully released at the end, and that's an unfortunate reality in areas that don't have a lot of that infrastructure.
Speaker 3:But, that being said, once the infrastructure was in place, we were able to collect animals, do excellent work on those that were collected later on and be able to return them back to the environment as well. So really a lot of it has to do with how much infrastructure is there, the willingness of partners for that response. There were several excellent wildlife rehabilitation organizations we worked directly with. They didn't have expertise in oil spill response but they were absolutely dedicated to caring for wildlife and so, bringing in the oil spill knowledge and the management structure to that and having people help with that, you can get a lot of good done even in the face of no preparedness at all. But it is that preparedness and that pre-planning and understanding the systems that can lead to ultimate success and responses in different regions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and you know that's a really good example. There was, I know, a number of spills in Europe around that time, the early 2000s, which really kickstarted a lot of efforts to think about better integration and better understanding of how to respond, to think about better integration and better understanding of how to respond, and I know a lot of that work continues. One of the projects that I know you and I have been involved in for a number of years is the Global Old Wildlife Response System, or GOWERS, and I think this feeds into that conversation about international response and the lack of preparedness perhaps in certain parts of the world. So just to quickly ask you, what is GOWERS and how does that, as a service or as a system, support and advance that?
Speaker 3:global picture.
Speaker 3:Gowers is an organization somewhat like the OWC in that it's a group of wildlife organizations that have agreed to work together to create a system to assist areas in both preparedness and response.
Speaker 3:So it's the 10 leading oil wildlife organizations throughout the world, in partnership with Sea Alarm Foundation and OSRL, to be able to create a system to provide initial assessment services for regions where an oil spill occurs and there may not be complete understanding of what is needed to mount a response. So Gowers can mobilize a team of four people to go in to do an initial quick assessment of an area and to make recommendations to a client whether or not a full-scale oil wildlife response is feasible and, if it is, what the best approach is to doing that. So which organization may be best suited for it? Which organizations in the region could assist in that effort? What is kind of that overarching structure? So, instead of cascading resources in a disorganized fashion, what it does is it takes a bit of time to make sure that what is set up is most fit for purpose for the spell response itself.
Speaker 2:So it's in less than ideal situations at least being able to get a small team of people like yourselves, who've done this many times in many situations, so they understand the challenges of getting something up running and they understand what's required of it, but to actually to get them on the ground so they can at least be the ones that can assess that and provide, I guess, a realistic understanding of what can be done in that situation and then, I suppose also to catalyze future efforts, future consideration for how that location could be better prepared in the future.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. What we talk about is Gowers being a tier three response, which is international response where there isn't either local or regional preparedness or systems in place. What it is is that final safety net, and so, in addition to having an assessment team that can come in during a response to provide that advice and those recommendations, as Gowers, as an organization, we're also interested in working with regions that are interested in developing preparedness, because the best preparedness possible is a local response. If you have the local capabilities to be able to respond to an oil spill where you have people, systems, plans in place locally, that can do it, that's going to be the most effective means possible, and so us helping regions to be able to establish and understand those systems, that ultimately is going to be the best way we can provide information to keep animals safe absolutely it's a key step forward.
Speaker 2:You know, in the sense, that the world is very varied when it comes to parodys, but it's a key step forward. You know, in the sense that the world is very varied when it comes to preparatory discipline. It's a key step forward to have that team and that network working on offering that initial response. So I suppose, building on that I mean, one of the things we've talked about to a number of people on this podcast is also about the importance of developing meaningful exercises that genuinely help to both develop and also to test response resilience. So how does this apply to old wildlife response and how important are those exercises?
Speaker 3:exercises are absolutely critical. You can have the best plan in the world written and on a bookshelf, but if that plan is never tested, actively worked on and modified based on real life scenarios, you're never going to be sure it is the best way possible. So exercises are crucial to that and the integration of wildlife into existing oil spill exercises or even disaster exercises is a really effective way of testing those things. We never consider an oil wildlife response plan ever finalized. It's always in draft form because every plan should be an active document, always be testing, applying new lessons learned to that, figuring out different ways of improving your systems and really continuing to modify, adjust, base it on new information, new knowledge and actively challenging the system. My staff really don't like me to be in charge of well-spilled drills, because I do challenge the system when I'm in charge of them to really try to find the gaps in our preparedness and then really working on means to fill those gaps during non-spill time, absolutely essential for effective planning.
Speaker 2:And I know we've talked about different approaches to exercise and how sometimes there can be these very large scale exercises but if they're not really designed effectively they can feel to some extent like a wasted opportunity. Those are the cost of getting all of those people together. I know some of my colleagues have talked about sometimes the benefits of taking a sort of more bite-sized approach but really injecting some realism into those situations. So how do you look at that from a wildlife response point of view in terms of testing or exercising different elements of the system?
Speaker 3:yeah, we have a number of different ways that we integrate drills and exercises in our systems. One is a simple notification exercise to make sure our notification systems are in place, initial planning is done and then exercise is concluded. Other ones are tabletop exercises where we can do either in person or virtually, where we sit around with the scenario, work through the scenario, do not deploy assets but determine what assets might be needed, determine their availabilities, their capabilities of going out and really working within the systems, with some challenges thrown in, what we call injects, to be able to change and alter the system, to see the resilience of the systems that are in place. We have limited deployment drills where we may test one specific aspect of oil wildlife response. So, for example, it may be simply an exercise that tests our ability to go out into the field and establish recovery teams or hazing deterrent teams. So it's just testing one specific element. And then the final one is what we call a full deployment drill where we're testing all the different elements command, post, field activities, facility activities and all the movements of animals in between them. Regular ways to be able to test all the different elements makes for a real comprehensive drill program to be able to test those.
Speaker 3:Things Can take a lot of work, both in the drill preparedness as well as the response. One thing we've encouraged industry if they are doing drills and they want to integrate wildlife is to bring a wildlife expert into the planning phase in addition to the response phase, because there are a number of exercises we've been involved with where the information we receive is there are 30 animals that are reported on Beach X, what do you do? And our response is we send a team out. Our response is we send a team out, and if that is simply a box ticking exercise, it's not as effective as if somebody was in the planning process that can give okay, you've gone out. You've seen 30 birds, 15 of them are endangered species, 10 of which are dead and are being preyed on by a scavenger, which is also an endangered species. So, adding the complexity, along with those injects to be able to really test decision-making and nuances further down the chain, that's where the real challenge is from a response and a planning perspective.
Speaker 3:But that is where somebody with extensive knowledge of wildlife is really needed in that planning to be able to make sure that level of sophistication is within the exercise design.
Speaker 2:That's fascinating. Yes, it has implications on the incident response, but from a crisis management perspective which is another thing we talk about on this podcast is, wildlife is an emotive subject. It's one, as you say, that the media and the public are very interested in and if that gets escalated in terms of the number of animals that are impacted, that obviously has major implications potentially on the response organization itself, the responsible party. So I guess my question is what are the implications from a crisis management of wildlife response and what are some of the key learnings or key things to consider in that regard?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the point you made of wildlife being affected during disasters being an emotive topic is absolutely spot on. Usually, wildlife are one of the first issues that come up during an oil spill response, and one of the worst answers to give in that type of situation is no comment, because the public, if they do not get information from the crisis managers or the incident management team, they are going to find information and it may not be as informed as those that are involved in the cleanup. So one of the things that we do is, first and foremost, setting up systems to report animals in if they're observed or collected.
Speaker 3:So setting up a toll-free hotline or whatever for the public to report those in that we can respond to serve, so that it could be integrated within a media inquiries, etc. So that some information is coming in, the crisis managers have the ability to answer those questions with facts, instead of either avoiding them or not having the information they need. I think it is actually best practice to try to be as open and honest with what is being seen and what is being done during these disaster response One. It's going to really prove that people are caring for and responding to animals and the environment that has been damaged by this accident.
Speaker 3:Two, if there is a system in place, people are going to be less likely to take it on themselves to go out and try to recover and care for animals. That's not going to be good for the wildlife, it's not going to be good for the people involved because, well, it is a hazardous substance and so, by the public understanding that something is being done, and being done effectively and professionally, it's going to decrease that chance. And three, it is best practice. If an organization, by no fault of their own, has an emergency, an accident that occurs, and they're willing to invest in wildlife response actually occurring, I think it's only fair for them to say exactly what's going on and to say that something is being done to the environment to try to correct it.
Speaker 3:I've been involved in incidents where there has been a global. You will not report any information related to wildlife bombas. What that creates is a sense of distrust from the public on what is going on, because the public doesn't understand what is going on or what is not going on. It can actually build from that distrust on the wildlife side and actually apply it to the incident as a whole. So I think reporting out on good work that is being done on the wildlife side can actually have ancillary benefits to their incident as a whole.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's another great reason for really integrating wildlife response in all aspects and all levels, and you know, as you say, the importance of managing the message and, especially in this day and age, the potential for misinformation, for that to have negative impacts on the response itself and certainly, as you say, potentially on people's safety as well if they're seeing themselves as citizens that are out there trying to report or save the day themselves. Absolutely so. We've covered a lot of ground and we've talked a lot about oil. We've talked about how wildlife response has come a long way. What are the current future risks that keep you up at night, what are the challenges that are current or are coming into view, and what are the priorities in terms of your work that you're looking at now?
Speaker 3:It is always going to be the unknown that you try to anticipate and prepare for, but you don't know it. There are alternative fuels that are starting to be produced and used that are different from petroleum, may have the same external effects because they can be a contaminant on animals, but we have absolutely no idea what they can do internally on those animals. So better understanding some of the challenges and risks associated with those I think is a good one. There is an increase in exploration that is occurring in certain areas of the world and some of those areas are not as prepared for oil spill response and oil wildlife response. So trying to assist in those areas and really try to emphasize the importance of oil wildlife preparedness as those regions are explored further, I think is important.
Speaker 3:Deepwater exploration is another one. Really, macondo was one of the first large-scale incidents where that occurred and some of the challenges in that response was the product was very different when it came to the surface and it was very different than other products we had seen. So again, continuing to understand where society is going, as far as fuel use regions etc. Is better understanding that and better integrating into the preparedness. Planning for that, I think is really really important. I think. Also, continuing to really push the envelope on research, how we can better understand how oil affects wildlife, how we can respond better, putting time, effort and funding towards that research to be able to do that, and then to continue to partner with different organizations, different regions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, industry and not-for-profit wildlife organizations to again build a stronger, larger community around wildlife response, I think is absolutely crucial. Continuing to bring people into the system and to better understand that.
Speaker 2:I think all of those things are absolutely crucial, and I guess the challenge is somewhat compounded by the fact that wildlife populations are under stress from a variety of challenges. So when you then have an incident that maybe comes on top of that, then the stakes are perhaps even higher than they would normally be.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. The more we learn about the complexity of our natural environment, the more we realize there is never one cause for problems. It's usually multifactorial in nature and, as you mentioned, systems are under threat, are under different stressors, either through the environment being changed due to warming or cooling, prey shifts and changes, all sorts of different things and layering on top of that a disaster such as oil, which can make it even more challenging. We've had oil spills during what are called unusual mortality events in marine mammals here in California, where you have populations of seals and sea lions that are under stress and debilitated for other reasons, and then they become oiled and it becomes even more problematic.
Speaker 2:So I could see those types of synergistic problems continuing to occur throughout the world and you mentioned the collaborative element and you know, I think that just only emphasizes the importance of that. You know, all of these challenges require people coming together and looking at it from different angles, but essentially trying to collectively address some of the same challenges with, in some instances, limited resources.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and that's one of the reasons why I moved into the executive director of the One Health Institute role, because I do really see oil spills as a one health issue.
Speaker 3:Wildlife is just one part of it, but human health issues, environmental health issues, as far as the drivers for environmental damage that are occurring, Think of seafood safety and people I mean that confluence of animal health and human health right there, All of those things thinking about that. But also economics, Thinking of the economic outputs and like the example we talked about earlier in prestige outputs and like the example we talked about earlier in prestige, thinking about the economic drivers that are occurring on that and whether or not decisions that are being made take that into consideration in addition to simply the ecological effects. Once you get into all the different layers that a disaster like an oil spill can occur, it can be really really complex, but fascinating in the ability to implement change as the spill is cleaning up, as the environment is trying to return back to normal function. Thinking about all those things in a holistic way absolutely can be very, very powerful.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Response Force Multiplier from RSRL. Please like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and stay tuned for more episodes as we continue to explore key issues in emergency response and crisis management. For more information, head to osrlcom.
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