Casting a Pellet

Remember this: Thou shalt not cast an oily pellet.

I was sitting at a locked gate; story of my life.

It was an hour too soon to arrive. A silhouette of an avian raptor in flight was painted on the rusty brown surface.

I decided to go down to the boat landing, on refuge public land, located down a side road behind an outpost station. I had an hour to burn.

I lucked up and found a parking spot near the pier. It was low tide. You would think the air would stink, but it doesn’t. I leaned over the rail to hear the sound of champagne bottles being opened. When you look at the mud under the pier, it is riddled with holes. You have a little chorus of on-going sounds.

Looking out over the marsh grass and ocean, you realize it is a pristine, beautiful place.

I noticed an elderly man having problems with his jet ski. He drove it up to the concrete ramp. He glanced around in a confused state. His eyes were brilliant blue, with mad white hair, and he resembled an old ship captain. All he needed was smokes and a peg leg.

I watched as one boat after another passed the man by in his state to load their boats and pull away. I observed his attempts to repair his propeller, which would not go forward. He fixed it, but it was only working in low gear. I overheard him say he was going to attempt to drive the jet ski back down to whence he came. I thought this was a bad idea. Another boater pulled up and his attempt at loading his boat caused a fury of marsh mud to be churned up.

I walked down and offered him my cell phone. Just to be sure I showed him where the telephone numbers were on the sign. Realizing the time, I excused myself for my appointment. On the way out a pelican decided to block the road.

With no help from the pelican, I arrived on time to the event. I parked and strolled inside to be checked off the list. This is the wonderful thing about being unimportant. No one notices you and you can move around at liberty.

The initial presenter began to give his welcome presentation and introduction. This was followed by the organization overview, and volunteer program offered.

The speakers and staff were very adamant about feeling privileged to have so many volunteers willing to help promote and service the non-profit.

Here is where I diverge from thought. Inside this room, which was constructed to suck all foul air out and recirculate filtered clean air in, sat close to fifty people, including myself, that decided the opportunity to extend a service to help assist debilitated and potentially rehabilitated avian raptors and birds.

The room itself was built to prepare for, as the speaker indicated, the “forgone conclusion that South Carolina would one day have an oil spill to contend with.” Ominous, I know.

Given the previous show of South Carolinian non-support of the United States Energy Committee passing legislation eliminating a 40-year ban on exportation of United States crude oil. Upon my readings, it would seem that Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced and pushed the bill that would lead to the potential drilling off of the Atlantic coast.

Great, an Alaskan Senator is affecting the Atlantic coastline and doesn't have the privilege of living here, if a spill occurs. Can we send her a clean-up bill if this does happen, because she brought that ship about? Is this the butterfly effect? Someone in Alaska waves a pen and paper, then people everywhere feel the impact of it? 

Bigger question is: Can we reciprocate that back to Alaska? Keep Alaska the pristine, last frontier, after Discovery Channel uses it for every show imaginable, then pollute up the Atlantic seaboard. We didn't even get a show....

On to the bill...up on Capital Hill.

This bill is called Offshore Production and Energizing National Security Act a.k.a. OPENS.

Where does Atlantic Coast come into this? There is a section called the Southern Atlantic Energy Security Act that mandates oil and gas drilling off of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. I kept reading to see that the federal Bureau of Ocean Management targeted the same states, this draft keeps the exportation ban in place, and sets up al this activity on the Atlantic coast that brings about exploration for drilling.

I am not a rocket scientist and my research is a bit fragmented but..... feel free to go out unto the world and write a scientific rendition of why this is a bad idea.

South Carolina has to worry about someone putting up a drill within 50 miles of the shoreline. Even if the oil drill is placed 3 miles offshore, and there was an oil spill, the saturation of that spill into wetlands would not be so easy to clean up. When you consider a certain location can hold 330,000 gallons of water in a marshland after a major storm, how much oil could get sucked up into such a place?

It could possibly take a relatively long time to flush, given the fact that most sediment has been controlled from the damming of rivers inland for hydro-electric purposes. These waterways are no longer producing the amount of push it would take to go back out to the sea. This can be illustrated with the barrier islands near Charleston, South Carolina. Then you could consider the affect an oil spill would have on fresh waterways because even near confluences, where waters mix and the tide moving inland, could that greasy detriment cause problems inland by coating and suffocating out variables in a habitat? Our coasts are not just a dot of dirt, filled with bystanders and free-loading life. It is a moving, ever-shifting, living thing collectively. It would be an affront to Southern sensibility to not protect, what could be considered a part of our ecological family.

When the speaker says an oil spill is a forgone conclusion, one can understand the planning going on now to handle the fallout from a major oil spill. Pretty much, this was to get lists of people to help in case this disaster happens. It is called a Southern Grapevine. One telephone call and all the grapes bunch up to pass the call for help along.

Enough of this perpetually imposing oil apocalypse. On to the birds.

At one point, one of the staff released a barred owl onto the audience. This little owl whizzed past my head several times. The problem it seemed, from the handler, was the owl had been acclimated to her voice and called back to her thinking she was a member of the owl clan. This caused a problem because the owl could not be re-introduced into the wild due to imprinting on humans. The owl's life would be spent at the center as an ambassador to educate the public. Once again, it is not a good idea to make a pet of a wild creature.

Most of this information comes from the meeting. In the greater sense of education and passing on information, much like an owl casting a pellet, I am going to regurgitate it for your consumption.

What are some of the causes or reasons for avian raptors to be submitted to a rehabitation center?

Avians can get into all kinds of misadventure. Avian raptors can be struck by cars while foraging on roadside, or fly out into an oncoming automobile during the night hours. Cause of sickness and death could originate from improper dumping of chemically contaminated animal bodies into landfills, gunshot wounds, lead poisonings, human trash on roadsides and waterways, and degenerative health problems.

What can you do to help solve these problems?

You can volunteer to do a roadside or waterway trash pick-up. Nails, tacks, candy, fast food remains, and other discarded items litter the roadside, along with shiny objects that birds love to ingest.

Be more conscious in your daily living when it comes to other life.

What do you do if you see a avian raptor in distress? 

Do not bother it. Call your local avian rehabilitation center for a representative that is knowledgeable in handing wounded birds. Birds are delicate, just trying to inspect the wounded bird could cause further damage, unset the bird into self-harm, or speed along its demise. Keep pets away from the animal and reduce noise and stimulation. Don't call your friends over to take selfies.

There was more but that information is relocated for the volunteers. More important information is the legalities of dealing with migratory birds, avian raptors, and keeping yourself out of trouble.

The speaker covered the laws and regulations that govern migratory birds, Bald Eagles, and Endangered species. Everyone should have some idea of this.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918): The domestic law that implements the United States' commitment to four international conventions for the protection of a shared migratory bird resource. The international conventions are Canada, 1916; Mexico, 1936; Japan, 1972; and Russia, 1976. Each of these conventions protects selected species of birds that are common to both countries during some point in their annual life cycle. This act makes it unlawful to “pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture or kill, possess, offer for sale, sell, offer to purchase, purchase, deliver for shipment, ship, cause to be shipped, deliver for transport, transport, cause to be transported, carry, or cause to be carried by any means whatever, receive for shipment, transportation or carriage, or export, at any time or in any manner, any migratory bird included in the terms of this Convention....for the protection of migratory birds...or any part, nest, or egg of any such bird.” (16 U.S.C. 703)

The Bald Eagle Protection Act (1940): Enacted in 1940 to prevent the decline of the bald eagle and later amended to include the golden eagle. Prohibits, except under certain specified conditions, the taking, possession, and commerce of such birds, their parts, or nests. There is a provision for the use of eagle parts by First Nation tribes, and a repository has been established for parts of eagles and raptors. Take may be authorized by the Secretary of the Interior to protect agricultural interests or to permit recovery operations.

Endangered Species Act (1973): Designed to regulate a wide range of activities affecting plants and animals designated as endangered or threatened. It provides measures to help alleviate the loss of species and their habitats to ensure their survival. With some exceptions, the Act prohibits activities with these protected species unless authorized by the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

An “endangered species” is an animal or plant in danger of extinction.

A “threatened species” is an animal or plant which is likely to be endangered in the future. The United States List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants includes both native and foreign species. 

Important provisions of the Act include:

• Listing of species

• Granting of permitting authority, and authority and funding of recovery actions to the states

• Consultation with federal agencies when their actions may affect endangered species

• Prohibition against take except as specifically permitted

• Provisions for permits and for incidental take permits with development of an acceptable Habitat Conservation Plan

Without a permit, it is unlawful to commit, attempt to commit, solicit another to commit, or cause to be committed any of the following activities involving endangered and threatened wildlife and plants:

Import into or export from the United States:

• Take (includes harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, trap, kill, capture, or collect) any listed wildlife within the United States (Court action has interpreted take to include destruction of habitat)
• Take on the high seas
• Possess, sell, deliver, carry, transport, or ship any species unlawfully taken within the United States or on the high seas
• Deliver, receive, carry, transport, or ship in interstate or foreign commerce in the course of a commercial activity
• Sell or offer for sale in interstate or foreign commerce
• Remove and reduce to possession any plant from areas under Federal jurisdiction

State Protection is through state permits. This could include for purposes of: education, rehabilitation, banding, captive breeding, re-introduction, radio-telemetry and satellite tracking, traveling. The South Carolina Laws amended in 1997.

If you feel strongly about volunteering, make sure it is the right thing for you. Everyone should experience something new. It gives you a greater perspective on some issue or subject you would otherwise have not investigated. Some of these issues could be no more than local issues that you, as a constituent of your state, should be involved in or have knowledge of. 

Home is where you live. No one will take care of home like you do.

Written by: Angelia Y Larrimore




I guess I could start penning my novel, "Gone With the Oil Drills."

Legal jargon is credited to the Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw, South Carolina. Scroll down to the bottom of this website to click on the photo of the Center for Birds of Prey link.

Here is a good article explaining the essentials.
http://www.moultrienews.com/article/20150807/MN01/150809793/