It took three Fort Jackson rescue center workers over an hour to wash the oil-soaked brown pelican that was recovered in the marshlands of southern Louisiana. The pelican is one of 14 birds, eight of them pelicans, currently receiving treatment at the facility. The pelican will spend a few days preening and undergoing veterinary care before being released, most likely off the Atlantic Coast of Florida.

The pelican is the 35th bird that has been washed at the facility and rescue center. The staff says he probably won’t last. The impact of the oil spill on the wildlife has become a major concern as oil continues to gush from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, damaging their homes. And as reports of oiled birds, turtles and other animals begin to come into the Deepwater Horizon Response Joint Information Center, rescue centers throughout the Gulf are preparing for an influx of activity.

There are 20 endangered species that could potentially be impacted by the oil spill, including leatherback sea turtles, whooping cranes and the West Indian manatee. Additionally, seven threatened species may also be affected by the spill.

Other nonthreatened or endangered animals are also at risk for injury or death from contact with oil. Although the oil in the Deepwater Horizon spill is classified as light crude, a less toxic oil than heavy crude, it still has the potential to cause long-term contamination, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Preening, the process by which birds arrange their feathers to create their waterproof barrier, is one of a bird’s strongest instincts. Oil inhibits the feathers’ ability to interlock, and oiled birds will stay out of the water, spending hours attempting to clean the oil off their feathers and arrange them properly. This not only keeps the bird from feeding, it usually leads to the ingestion of the oil, which has been shown to cause damage to internal organs such as the liver and kidneys, as well as cause a decrease in immune system function.

Rescue centers like the one at Fort Jackson have been working closely with the Deepwater Horizon Response to clean as many oiled birds as possible. Oiled wildlife are reported to the JIC and then transported to the center. After a bird receives an initial examination to determine its overall health, a feather sample is taken to establish the extent of washing that needs to be done. Once the bird is deemed stable enough for washing, three staff members begin the washing and rinsing process, which could take anywhere from 45 minutes to more than an hour.

Dr. Erica Miller, a certified veterinarian and lead washer for the rescue center, said the wash times have been getting longer in the past couple of weeks.

“The first few birds we washed were about 35 or 40 minutes and now as the oil’s getting stickier and aging on them it’s taking longer,” she said.

Clean birds are then housed in large cages with large swimming pools as they spend the next couple of days preening and receiving medical care. The average stay is about six days, with some birds staying as long as 10 days before being turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for release.

The most common animal associated with oil spills and wildlife is birds. They are likely to come in contact with oil as they float on the water’s surface, while preening oiled feathers or by eating contaminated fish.

The Audubon Nature Institute of New Orleans is also involved in the rehabilitation of oil-affected animals. The Audubon Aquarium recently received the first oiled turtle, a baby Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, recovered 33 nautical miles offshore. The baby Kemp’s Ridley was given a bath and medical treatment before being released.

According to Doug Zimmer, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 200 dead sea turtles have been recovered, although it’s not known how many of them died of effects from the spill.

However, oiled animals aren’t the only concern for ecologists and environmentalists tracking the spill. The long-term effects on wildlife populations, marsh contamination and possible food contamination has experts anxious about how long it will take the Gulf to recover.

Dr. Martin O’Connell, a fish ecologist at the University of New Orleans, said every Gulf fish is at risk through either direct exposure or contaminated food sources.

“Even if the toxicity is gone, you’re still losing young and larval fishes,” he said. “Trillions of eggs have been killed either by the oil or the dispersant.”

O’Connell said the oil is not the only thing to blame for its negative effect on the marshes.

“If we had a healthy marsh to begin with, it wouldn’t have had such an impact,” O’Connell said. “Barrier islands need to have the correct sand and more river diversion is needed.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Zimmer said the spill will take a “long-term, subtle, biological bite out of the population.”

The threat of seafood contamination has led fish and wildlife organizations throughout the Gulf Coast to close certain waters to fishing, crabbing and oyster harvesting. There have been no reports of sickness caused by consumption of oil-contaminated seafood so far.

BP has committed to spending $500 million on research into the impact of the oil spill on Gulf marine life.

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