Tweets,

I received this a while back.

=09Dan Victor, Seattle, WA <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
Tweeters =3D http://weber.u.washington.edu/~dvictor/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kristian Adolfsson <ka at roka.se>

PRESSRELEASE=09January 1997

For immediate release

Contact: Kristian Adolfsson +46 - 40 - 18 21 33

Cleaning oiled bird and mammals
A new solution to enhance the result by reducing stress and chilling

The procedures and products at the end of the page have been developed and
tested together with KFV (Katastrofhj=E4lp F=E5glar Vilt) in Kristianstad. =
KFV
is the equivalent of for instance RSPCA in other parts of the world. The
two main problems today have been the long time that cleaning takes and
what to use as a substrate when the birds are waiting to be cleaned.Today
there are solutions to theses two problems.

Collecting
The birds or mammals are collected from beaches and the surface using nets
or hands. Already here a first cleaning can be done with hand held small
pillows filled with the sorbent. It quickly absorbs parts of the oil from
the animal. The "mitt" can also be used to get less oil on your hands and
absorb some of the oil. Advantages over normal handling:- Less to clean
when the animals gets to the cleaning centre- Less stress as the cleaning
time is reduced- Less chilling effect- Less risk of the birds swallowing
oil when preening- Less irritation of the birds' skin

Transporting
The animals are transported to a centre for cleaning. It is vital that the
birds don't get a chance to preen them self so they swallow oil. If they
are treated with Purabsan they have less oil in the feathers and therefore
the risk is smaller. The risk of a lightly oiled bird or mammal getting
oily from a heavily oiled animal is also reduced. The bottom of the box is
covered with a carpet containing Purabsan. While the animal is laying or
walking on the carpet the oil will be absorbed by the carpet. It is
actually cleaning it self.

Keeping
While birds are waiting to be cleaned or if they are in such a bad shape
they need to rest for a couple of days, they are kept in a confinement of
some kind. Also here the bottom is covered with carpets that absorbs oil.
Once again, while the bird is laying or walking on the carpet the oil will
be absorbed by the carpet.

Cleaning
No change in procedures. The advantage is that the time to clean the animal
might be reduced by 50% and thus reducing the stress which undoubtedly
kills a lot of the birds.

The products
Pillow
The pillows are about 10 x 20 cm (4" x 8") and contains about 0.5 l (0.13
gal) Purabsan. When the outer layer is saturated, just shake it to get new
and fresh sorbent to the surface. Does not absorb water and the oil is
encapsulated in the pillow.

"Mitt"
A mitt of an oil absorbing material. You put it over your glove and rub it
against the bird or mammal. It absorbs all liquids, even water. About 40 x
17 cm (16" x 7"). Absorbs about 0.15 l (0.32 pt) of water or 0.2 l (0.42
pt) of oil.

Carpet
The carpets are about 35 x 40 cm (14" x 16") and contains about 3 l (0.79
gal) Purabsan. It can be used on both sides so that all of the sorbent is
used up. It is divided in to 3 compartments to make it easy to handle. Does
not absorb water and the oil is encapsulated in the carpet.

We have a test kit at a reduced price for those wanting to test these new
products. It contains 5 pillows, 10 mitts and 6 carpets.

Both the producer and ROKA are sponsoring this product to lower the prices.

For further information contact Kristian Adolfsson, Tel/fax: +46 - 40 - 18
21 33 or visit our home page at http://www.roka.se/eindex.htm

ROKA Information
Nobelv=E4gen 147 M:22
212 15 Malm=F6
SWEDEN
birds at roka.se