OK Let the birds suffer. Only BP accredited bird cleaners welcome, WTF.Australian wildlife rescuers keen to assist in the clean-up of a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have been turned away by their American counterparts.
The teams from South Australia and New South Wales were inspired to offer their help after seeing images of pelicans mired in sticky black oil from the BP rig spill.
But the wildlife rescuers were soon caught in a quagmire of their own, with their offer of help rejected.
Aaron Machado from the Australian Marine Wildlife Research and Rescue Organisation says there are strict rules on who can rescue wildlife in the spill, and they do not include the Australians.
"You can't help - that's the bottom line," he told a national conference of wildlife groups in Adelaide.
"This is an oil spill that the Earth has never seen before, magnitude wise. It's ignorant and somewhat arrogant on their behalf to consider all outside help not an option."
Mr Machado spent five days in the regions around the Gulf's oil-soaked beaches and was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the spill.
"Numbness. It's so huge you can't explain it," he said, adding that he saw hundreds of dead birds piled high in trailers.
"You look from coast to coast, horizon to horizon, and you see oil and you see animals affected by oil.
"You see people standing next to them that are unable to touch them because of red tape, because they're not licensed to touch them."
No help needed
The International Bird Rescue Research Centre and the Tri-State Bird Rescue are the US groups leading the operation.
Any rescuer who enters the spill zone must be accredited with approved training as part of BP's clean-up obligations.
"BP as the polluter is actually required to fund the rescue of individual animals and that's quite unique in the world," said Ian Robinson, director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare in the US.
Mr Robinson says there is no need for outside help just yet.
"The expertise which exists in the US is second to none, so I believe that the right people are there doing the job," he said.
"Now whether they have adequate resources, my understanding at the moment is that they're not asking for outside resources to come and help.
"But as this spill goes on and on and on and it will last for a long time, obviously they will need more resources as time goes on."
Mr Robinson says people should not go uninvited.
"I'm not saying things can't be improved but what I am saying is that many people, instantly their hearts go out and they want to rush there and do something and that may not be the right thing to do," he said.
Members of Australian Seabird Rescue based in Ballina are still in the US and are due back this weekend. The group's projects manager Keith Williams says they are not giving up.
"We are still talking with them and we are still trying to get the message across that we've got things to offer to help them, that it's not people and resources but it's skills and knowledge," he said.
"They seem to be having problems catching birds that can still fly and that's something that we specialise in."
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