POST
Clean-Up
Wednesday September 1st, 2010
Our Austin-based photographer Matt Rainwaters has a fascinating series of photos on his blog, which show the process of cleaning up oil-soaked birds in Louisiana.
Getting to the site of the Gulf oil spill was somewhat difficult, as it has been for other media; Matt says that “most of the trip was spent just trying to get access, trying to get through red tape, and battling the bureaucracy in charge of wrangling the media.”
The pictures were taken for the Telegraph (UK), which described the scene vividly:
Workers from the department of fish and wildlife, wearing white contamination suits, paddle in kayaks among this patchwork of low-lying barrier islands, bayous and creeks, approaching the shore when they see birds that have been contaminated.
The healthy birds take off and the heavily-oiled ones attempt to join them, but are unable to do so. “We then pick them up and rescue them that way,” Mr Baker said.
Below is a poster Matt designed to express his sentiments, and perhaps those of the birds.
-Asad Haider
