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Nebraska Wildlife Rehab veterinarian Dr. Avery Berkowitz chases down a bird at Lakeside Park. About 2,000 gallons of mineral oil drained into the lake after an accident near 171st Street and West Center Road.
Nebraska Wildlife Rehab employee Ayet Nguyen puts an oil-covered duck in a carrier.
“It’s not that easy to catch them,” Laura Stastny, executive director of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, said of the ducks and geese.
Sheen from the oil can be seen on the top of Lakeside Lake.
Booms are containing most of the mineral oil to one section of Lakeside Lake.
Nebraska Wildlife Rehab veterinarian Dr. Avery Berkowitz prepares his net to go after some birds.
Ayet Nguyen of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab places a duck in a carrier. The duck is one of about two dozen birds that have been caught by Nebraska Wildlife Rehab for care after oil drained into the lake at Lakeside Park in Omaha.
Nebraska Wildlife Rehab employee Ayet Nguyen cares for a duck. The birds will be cleaned and released when they are healthy.
Once the birds have been caught, they are returned to Nebraska Wildlife Rehab to be cleaned and cared for until they are healthy.
Ayet Nguyen with a captured bird. Some of the birds have been dumped by their previous owners and won't be returned to the lake.
Nebraska Wildlife Rehab staff and volunteers now know exactly what it means to go on a wild goose chase.
They have been trying to corral several ducks and geese covered in oil after an accident near 171st Street and West Center Road last week caused mineral oil to flow into nearby Lakeside Lake.
“It’s not that easy to catch them,” said Laura Stastny, executive director of the rehab organization. “Geese can run, they can swim and they can fly.”
A commercial vehicle, registered to DSR Express out of Tacoma, Washington, was carrying a large transformer that shifted and fell when the driver had to stop suddenly to avoid the truck in front of him.
Despite the efforts of city and state organizations and a private contractor, about 2,000 gallons of mineral oil from the transformer drained into a storm sewer that connects to the lake at Lakeside Park, according to Battalion Chief Scott Fitzpatrick of the Omaha Fire Department.
Great West Casualty Co. is working with Environmental Solutions to clean the oil from the lake and asked Nebraska Wildlife Rehab to care for any affected wildlife. A person who answered the phone at DSR said they would have no comment.
With the help of booms, most of the oil has been contained to one section of the lake. Nebraska Wildlife Rehab has caught about two dozen ducks and geese and expects to help twice that amount by the time the project is finished.
Cleanup is expected to take about two weeks. The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy is overseeing the effort.
Stastny said that while she has seen some dead fish because of a lack of oxygen, rehab workers have found no dead birds. Mineral oil is less toxic than motor oil to wildlife, and although the birds are covered in oil, hot conditions mean the birds aren’t experiencing hypothermia as they would in an ocean situation.
“We’re doing surveys every day to see how many birds are affected and which are in the worst condition,” Stastny said.
Stastny said besides wild birds, six staff and volunteers are finding domestic ducks and geese that have been dumped by their owners as well as birds that can’t fly away because they have been injured.
New placements will need to be found for those birds after their feathers have been cleaned. Wild birds will be returned to the site once the oil is gone and they are healthy. The prognosis is good for birds that don’t have chronic injuries.
The lake is a stopover for migratory birds because until now, it has been kept from icing over in the winter. Stastny said that will come to an end this year, when aerators will be turned off over the winter.
“We knew this fall we would have to team up to get all the domestics that couldn’t fly off the lake,” she said. “We figured we could work in the fall when we had more time. This is still our busy season.”
Dumping sadly is common at city lakes, Stastny said, as are injuries caused by the fishing line left behind by anglers. Her staff just had to euthanize a bird whose foot had been severed by a fishing line.
Some people like to feed the birds, and the improper diet results in malformed wings that don’t allow the birds to fly. Stastny would like to raise about $35,000 for an initiative to install signs and educate the public about how all of those things negatively impact waterfowl.
She’s asking the public not to become involved in trying to catch the birds because it makes them more wary. However, if one is found not moving on the ground, people should call Nebraska Wildlife Rehab at 402-234-2473 or bring it to their building at 9777 M St.
“It’s really challenging to catch them,” Stastny said. “We have some volunteers who are very good at it.”
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marjie.ducey@owh.com, 402-444-1034, twitter.com/mduceyowh
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Marjie is a writer for The World-Herald’s special sections and specialty publications, including Inspired Living Omaha, Wedding Essentials and Momaha Magazine. Follow her on Twitter @mduceyOWH. Phone: 402-444-1034.
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Nebraska Wildlife Rehab veterinarian Dr. Avery Berkowitz chases down a bird at Lakeside Park. About 2,000 gallons of mineral oil drained into the lake after an accident near 171st Street and West Center Road.
Nebraska Wildlife Rehab employee Ayet Nguyen puts an oil-covered duck in a carrier.
“It’s not that easy to catch them,” Laura Stastny, executive director of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab, said of the ducks and geese.
Sheen from the oil can be seen on the top of Lakeside Lake.
Booms are containing most of the mineral oil to one section of Lakeside Lake.
Nebraska Wildlife Rehab veterinarian Dr. Avery Berkowitz prepares his net to go after some birds.
Ayet Nguyen of Nebraska Wildlife Rehab places a duck in a carrier. The duck is one of about two dozen birds that have been caught by Nebraska Wildlife Rehab for care after oil drained into the lake at Lakeside Park in Omaha.
Nebraska Wildlife Rehab employee Ayet Nguyen cares for a duck. The birds will be cleaned and released when they are healthy.
Once the birds have been caught, they are returned to Nebraska Wildlife Rehab to be cleaned and cared for until they are healthy.
Ayet Nguyen with a captured bird. Some of the birds have been dumped by their previous owners and won't be returned to the lake.
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