T he
International Bird Rescue Research
Center
a 35 year old bird rescue organization
that put their x-ray of a mallard
on eBay hit the mother lode. After
a roller coaster week of ups and
downs, a story in itself, the winning
bid; $9,600. The winner: GoldenPalace.com and Goldenpalaceevents.com,
an on-line casino known for snapping
up unusual items for their charity
division. The x-ray will now go
into a collection that includes
the Grilled Cheese Madonna and
William Shatner’s kidney
stone. See: Earlier
duck x-ray story
 |
Alien
in the duck – Help
IBRRC and bid on this unusual
x-ray image online via
eBay. See
larger image (Radiograph
& photo by Marie Travers/IBRRC) |
The bird rescue center
continually struggles to get enough
donations to help fund their rehabilitation
programs, and the money from the
sale was desperately needed. IBRRC,
which manages two centers in California,
helps 4,000 injured and orphaned
native waterfowl and aquatic birds
ever year. This year they
have already received 150 Endangered
Brown Pelicans. IBRRC’s
staff is considered experts in
the care and rehabilitation of
this species.
The cost of maintaining
the rehabilitation programs for
the two centers is approximately
$600,000 a year. Partnerships
with the International Fund for
Animal Welfare, UC Davis and the
California’s Oiled Wildlife
Care Network, which IBRRC manages
the two centers for, help with
the cost of caring for birds impacted
by oil spills. IBRRC
maintains their rehabilitation
programs for non-oiled birds, injured
and orphaned native waterfowl mainly
through donations from the public.
IBRRC’s
Director, Jay Holcomb, hopes the
attention the x-ray received will
result in more memberships, donations
and sponsors for the hundreds of
orphan baby birds awaiting adoption
through their unique program. Last
year, IBRRC’s staff and volunteers
raised and released a record 1,400
ducks of various species back to
the wild and 500 herons and egrets,
some of whom hatched at the center.
Jay Holcomb, Director of the center
for the past 20 years and 35 year
veteran of hundreds of oil spills
around the world said the hoopla
around the x-ray was a fun and welcome
change for the staff, who has to
deal with the grave reality of cruelty
cases, fish hooks, disease outbreaks
and other human caused impacts to
wildlife attempting to survive in
every shrinking habitat.
Holcomb said, “We
had a lot of fun this past week.
Stories about the x-ray went around
the world and our 15 minutes of fame
is still going. The eBay auction
helped create tremendous interest
in IBRRC. I
want to take this opportunity to
thank everyone for all the good will,
support, the hundreds of e-mails
wishing us well and to say we are
extremely grateful for all of this."
"I want
to add that in the midst of all the
humor exists a great and destructive
surge that is building momentum;
that is the effects humans are having
on their, our, environment," said
Holcomb. "The
animals that we see every day in
our clinics, whether damaged intentionally
or as the result of human pollution,
are clear evidence of that and their
numbers are growing. This is all
a result of our attitudes towards
nature and our planet. Attitudes
are powerful as they carry information,
apathy and greed, to name a few,
resulting in the environment being
a nuisance, or unimportant."
"We need to become stewards
of our planet and create a healthy
future for humanity through a change
in attitudes. IBRRC’s
contribution towards this change
is by holding each animal in high
esteem, valuable in their own way
and worthy of our time and expense," added
Holcomb. "We hope the x-ray causes
some laughs, but also some serious
thought and discussion.”
More
ways to help: Make
a donation or
to buy
an Alien in the Duck t-shirt!
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