After greater than 126,000 barrels of crude oil spilled out of a damaged pipeline in Huntington Beach, California, this weekend, the primary studies on affected wildlife had been launched Monday. Cautiously, it’s to this point, so good—however there’s nonetheless a protracted strategy to go.

Official studies say that as of Monday morning, 4 reside oiled birds have to this point been recovered from the spill. Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, a venture out of University of California, Davis’s School of Veterinary Medicine, mentioned that that was somewhat bit of fine information.

“The number of birds found give us hope,” Ziccardi told reporters Monday. “In our initial assessment, the number of birds seems lower than feared.”

However, he said that rescue groups had noticed a number of different birds affected by the spill that rescuers are at the moment attempting to recuperate. One of the birds recovered by OWCN, a pelican, needed to be euthanized on Sunday because of the extent of its accidents, Ziccardi mentioned. A hotline arrange for individuals to report oiled wildlife has acquired greater than 300 calls, however solely 20 truly concerned animals that had been affected. OWCN solely recovers reside birds, Ziccardi mentioned, in order that they solely rescued a couple of from these calls. (If you might be within the space and see affected wildlife, although, the OWCN hotline is energetic: ​​1-877-823-6926.) 

“First and foremost, we need people to not try to catch soiled animals,” Ziccardi mentioned. “It’s not safe for the animals. It’s not safe for them because oil can be a toxic substance.”

Birds are the wildlife most visibly affected by oil spills, Ziccardi mentioned, however marine mammals like dolphins and whales might really feel the impacts of an oil spill later. “Oftentimes external coating doesn’t affect them,” he mentioned, however they’re susceptible to consuming oiled prey, and their eyesight will also be broken. Years after the BP oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico, dolphins washed up lifeless onshore. Their deaths had been possible in a roundabout way brought on by the spill, however researchers suspected the oil spill primarily brought on them to have pre-existing circumstances.

Huntington Beach is residence to various endangered and threatened wildlife, together with brown pelicans like the one that was euthanized. The close by Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, a 1,300-acre space that gives some of the nation’s best birding, is residence to 200 species of birds—a lot of which at the moment are in peril because of the spill. In a tweet posted Saturday, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley mentioned she heard from Mayor Brad Avery of Newport Beach that he’d seen dolphins swimming via oil slicks after the spill. Multiple media retailers reported that lifeless fish and birds washed up on shore over the weekend.

A two-mile stretch of close by marshes can be a key route alongside what’s referred to as the Pacific Flyway, a 4,000-mile (6,400-kilometer) stretch of habitat from Alaska to Mexico that 1 billion birds migrate via every year. More than 90 species of birds use Talbert Marsh and surrounding wetlands as a stopping floor alongside the route. Oil booms have been deployed by the state to try to shield the crucial wetlands from additional injury. However, reports Monday mentioned that an oil plume had already made its well past the primary growth, displaying that oil was seeping into the marsh.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is working with the Coast Guard, Orange County, and Amplify Energy—the corporate that owns the pipeline—to assist wildlife and tackle the spill.