So we’re just screwed, basically.
Yeah, I said we. This is happening to the entire country. There is no part of America that America can live without. Our fate, as our Gulf friends have reminded us before, is your fate. We are all of us safe, or none of us.
Right now the answer seems to be none of us. And as usual, the institutions we once trusted to handle catastrophe are either paralyzed or incompetent and some of them are both. And as usual, a lot of us are trying to figure out what we can do to help.
The FD management team holed up in the catbus this week with 2 kilos of Scout’s leftover ganja and some tequila Tommy swears fell off a truck, and we came up with a plan. Here’s what we’re gonna do:
We’re gonna adopt some birdies.
The International Bird Rescue Center (recommended through a list of ways to help from NOLA.com) has been finding and catching wildlife and washing the British Petroleum off it for some time now. At first it was just a few birds, butnow the numbers are starting to pick up:
Yesterday we received 3 more oiled birds at the Fort Jackson oiled bird rehabilitation facility. The included: OneBrown Pelican, oneRuddy Turnstone andSemipalmated Sandpiper. No other birds were received at any of the other facilities.
On
Wednesday of this week we received another three oiled Northern Gannets
in Fort Jackson and we continued washing and rehabilitating birds in
Louisiana.
Here’s what I’d like to do. Much like what we did with the Afghanistan care packages, hit upthe tip jar here and put “birds” in the comments field. This time next week, I’ma update you all on the total (hopefully we can get to Pelican level, or $200, and take care of one of those funky creatures) and send our adoption papers to the IBRC.
Remember, it doesn’t have to be a lot. I know the economy sucks, especially for those of you who are on the Gulf Coast watching fishing and tourism completely crater. There’s a bunch of us here, we pool our resources, we can take care of a lot of birds. Is it everything? Absolutely not, not for the people and animals who will have to live with this nightmare for years to come. But it’s something we can do, right now, today. That’s all I’ve got right now, people. Let’s help some birdies.
A.