Gulf Oil Spill - collect fur

[KiaKia]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey,
intro: I became prevet my last semester of college, and am currently scrambling to catch up. I've posted a few times and have been lurking for a bit less than a year.

So the gulf coast states are going to be covered in petroleum sometime in the next few weeks, and as I live in Florida, this is of immediate concern to me and the wildlife center where I volunteer.

An organization called a Matter of Trust (http://www.matteroftrust.org) is collecting FUR and hair to make oil absorbing booms to absorb the petrol in the water and mats to absorb the oil off of rescued wildlife. (demo: http://www.youtube.com/user/matteroftrust)

I thought this was pretty cool. So consider shaving your dog/goat/horse and sending the hairs this way!!

PS:
Is there anyone in Broward/WPB/Dade counties that would like to team up to collect fur/hair from groomers et cetera?

PPS:
There's an insistent commenter on the youtube videos that politely insists hay be used instead of hair. Anyone know about the benefits of one versus the other?

 

[BarnyardPunch]

PPS:
There's an insistent commenter on the youtube videos that politely insists hay be used instead of hair. Anyone know about the benefits of one versus the other?

There was a piece on NPR last week about the hair/fur thing and the "expert" environmental clean up person said that they had at one point experimented with fur/hair after the Exxon Valdez, but that it was found to be ineffective in clean up operations. The woman interviewed said the focus will be on breaking the oil up and getting it to disperse and large skimming operations. Not sure how/if hay comes into play.

But who knows, NPR also reported that they're next going to attempt to plug the gusher with tire pieces and golf balls. Talk about grasping at straws...

 

[KiaKia]

There was a piece on NPR last week about the hair/fur thing and the "expert" environmental clean up person said that they had at one point experimented with fur/hair after the Exxon Valdez, but that it was found to be ineffective in clean up operations. The woman interviewed said the focus will be on breaking the oil up and getting it to disperse and large skimming operations. Not sure how/if hay comes into play.

But who knows, NPR also reported that they're next going to attempt to plug the gusher with tire pieces and golf balls. Talk about grasping at straws...

I would imagine that it's not great at the source, but for local beach cleanups. Tarry beaches suck.

 

[vdrandal]

I also live in Florida and we are collecting fur at the clinic I work at. One of the girls I work with also cut her hair short so she could donate her own human hair to help. We are also asking for panty hose donations from clients to wrap the hair in. I did see a clip on CNN last night about how well hay works in cleaning up oil, but I am not sure how well the hair does in comparison.