'Help oiled seabirds'

Unless people find oiled birds they may die

Walkers have been urged to look out for oiled seabirds washed up on Kent's beaches.

The RSPCA has asked members of the public to help birds affected by oil slicks in the Channel.

The charity said the number of birds being washed up had increased significantly in recent weeks.

This followed the sinking of the car carrier, the Tricolor, 30 miles off the Kent coast on 14 December.

We are finding there are more and more oiled birds and obviously some of them are being left there because no-one's finding them

Klare Kennett, RSPCA

A nine-mile oil slick is believed to have been released last month when a salvage tug hit a fuel tank on the partially submerged wreck.

RSPCA spokeswoman Klare Kennett said people from Kent could help find birds which might otherwise die.

"If people are walking along the beach and they find an oiled bird, a bird that's obviously in distress and has been stricken by oil, then we'll ask them to pick it up.

"They should either take it to a local vet if they can, or give us a call and we will come and collect it.

Dead birds

"We are finding there are more and more oiled birds and obviously some of them are being left there because no-one's finding them."

Figures from BirdLife Belgium at the end of January estimated that 1,770 oiled seabirds - nearly all Guillemots - had been recovered from a 30-kilometre stretch of the Belgian coast after the slick was released.

At least 220 of these were dead.