I have been in the wildlife rehabilitation "business" for 10 years and
have been an active participant in several oil spills in the PNW. I
believe the majority of volunteers are intelligent enough to realize the
odds are against most birds surviving the oil/rehab process, and do
realize they are not helping the species population in general. I also
believe the public is not lulled into complacency and think all is rosy as
long as there is rehab -- all the pictures I see in the media are of dead
and/or dying birds; I rarely see them covering rescue, rehab, or releases,
and if I do, the futility of it is emphasized.

By comparison, just because doctors are saving a few cancer patient's
lives, does that mean the general public will think it's OK to smoke
again? Doubt it. Does it diminish the message the public needs to hear
about the harmful effects of tobacco smoke? Don't think so. Maybe if
doctors just let all cancer patients die, more people would take better
care of themselves? No, that's not the answer.

Most importantly, if the release statistics are currently low for survival
of rehabbed oiled birds (which they're not always-- depends on a number of
factors, including type of oil, how far out at sea the spill occurred,
accessibility of the site), we will never improve these odds unless we
continue to rehab at oil spills, learn from our mistakes, improve our
methods, AND AT THE SAME TIME, educate the public on the need for
diminished dependency on oil and safer containment for the transport of
hazardous materials.

Robin K.
Willamette Wildlife Rehabilitation