Skip directly to: Navigation for this section | Main page content
School Research Centers & Public Service Units School Clinical & Diagnostic Services Units SVM Office of Research Programs Internal Web Site for Faculty, Staff, and Students Search SVM web sites Continuing Education Opportunities for Veterinarians How to Support the School SVM Research & Service Units Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital Information and Resources for Prospective Students Teaching Programs at the School of Veterinary Medicine Administrative and Organizational Information about the School Learn About New Developments at the School Return to the School of Veterinary Medicine Home Page

Oiled Wildlife Care Network
Background and Overview

oiled sea lionIntroduction

The Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), a statewide collective of wildlife care providers and regional facilities interested in working with oil-affected wildlife, was established with the mission to “strive to ensure that wildlife exposed to petroleum products in the environment receive the best achievable treatment by providing access to permanent wildlife rehabilitation facilities and trained personnel which are maintained in a constant state of readiness for oil spill response within California.” The OWCN is administered by the Wildlife Health Center at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. This partnership of regulatory agencies, academia and wildlife professionals is recognized as the world leader in oil spill response, rescue, rehabilitation and research, and is an outstanding example of how such institutions and organizations can collectively work toward a common goal.

Legislative Background

In response to the potential risk to California from oil spill events, the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act (Senate Bill 2040) was passed in 1990. This Act required the Administrator of the Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (DFG-OSPR) to establish rescue and rehabilitation stations for seabirds, sea otters and other marine mammals. This mandate for addressing the problems of oiled wildlife care was reaffirmed in 1993 by Senate Bill 775 (Watson), and was further refined by the legislature in 1995 (Assembly Bill 1549) and 1996 (Assembly Bill 748). The legislative background is summarized here.

Search and CollectionResponding to Oiled Wildlife

Through focused research and development of animal care protocols, the OWCN has streamlined the response to oil spills and greatly increased the chances of survival for oiled wildlife. During response, the OWCN receives assistance from its 25 participating organizations and uses one or more of 12 regional facilities either built specifically for, or modified to accommodate, oiled wildlife. All OWCN facilities have been developed in cooperation with universities, schools, zoological parks or wildlife rehabilitation organizations. When not in use for emergency oil spill response, all facilities operate additional year-round programs that benefit and educate the community. These facilities are maintained in a constant state of readiness and are stocked with emergency equipment and supplies and staffed by local volunteers specifically trained in the care of oiled birds and marine mammals. The OWCN provides annual training opportunities for participants to ensure personnel are practicing state-of-the-art skills. Participants of the OWCN are globally recognized as experts in their field and are often requested to respond to environmental accidents affecting wildlife and to consult on response readiness worldwide.

Woutrina MillerResearch Helps Us Respond Better

In addition to establishing oiled wildlife care stations, the enabling legislation clearly mandated the need for both applied and basic research into the effects of oil on wildlife and technology development for optimizing treatment of oiled wildlife. In 1995, technology development and research was added to the tasks to be accomplished by the OWCN. Since 1996, more than 50 applied research projects funded by the competitive grants program have increased our knowledge of the consequences of oil exposure to wildlife and improved the quality of response technology for oil spills in California and around the world.

International Spill Assistance

This section of our website is currently under construction. Please check back periodically for updates and enhancements to our website. Thank you for visiting and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Other Response Organizations

This section of our website is currently under construction. Please check back periodically for updates and enhancements to our website. Thank you for visiting and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Sources of Oil in the Environment

Also under construction

Large Spills in Which the OWCN has Participated