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Wildlife Center of Virginia chief dismayed by damage and roadblocks to help animals in Gulf Date published: 6/24/2010 By Rob Hedelt SEEING dolphins That was followed by the sight of oil-covered gulls and pelicans being cleaned at an animal rescue hospital, which often received the animals too late to save them. But on a recent six-day trip to do a damage assessment on wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico, Ed Clark--co-founder and president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia--experienced things that hit even harder. Like the hermit crab he picked up on one of the barrier islands off Louisiana. "When I looked under the shell, the animal was fighting for its life to get the oil off of it," said Clark, who was part of the assessment team at the invitation of the Humane Society of the United States. "It was terrible." Even worse, he said, was a scene he witnessed from the deck of an oil-rig supply boat the team hitched a ride on out into the Gulf. There, he said, an effort was under way to rescue sea turtles from the thick floating beds of seaweed that provide cover and habitat. Clark said that while the team of scientists and wildlife experts from the United States and Canada watched, two shrimp boats towing a large boom filled with oil chased the rescuers off, and--with turtles still in the water--encircled the oil-covered seaweed beds and set fire to it all. Clark, who has been with From the open door of a helicopter cruising at 300 feet, from the deck of the oil boat and on side trips, Clark and others on the team visited beaches, bayous and marshes that have been stained by the oil spill in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. They met with colleagues working at wildlife rehabilitation centers to save turtles and birds. Clark also met with a variety of federal, state and local officials, as well as representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Coast Guard.
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