Volunteers in Texas will be prepared to respond to future oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico thanks to a Texas A&M veterinary expert.

Dr. J. Jill Heatly, clinical associate professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is the lead veterinarian working with the Wildlife Rehab and Education Center in Houston, training volunteers to assist response teams during a spill.

Heatly, who is certified in aviary medicine, began teaching classes earlier this year as part of the center’s Oiled Wildlife Training workshops.

Aimed at state wildlife officials, U.S. Fish and Wildlife service representatives, industry environmental personnel and local veterinarians and vet techs, the workshops are designed to teach volunteers everything they need to know in order to effectively respond to an oil spill.

“Birds are very visible victims of oil spills,” Heatly said. “But it’s important that the people working with them know how to handle them.”

While the goal of the workshops is to teach participants how to save the lives of animals affected by an oil spill, the volunteers also spend time learning about the risks of handling them.

“Much of our training is an emphasis on the volunteers’ safety,” said Sharon Schmalz, executive director of the center. “Working with wild animals can be dangerous, so we teach them how to interact with the animals safely and avoid exposure to zoonotic diseases, which can be passed from animals to humans.”

Responders are also educated on the potentially hazardous conditions they will be working in. The hoses and equipment used to clean oil-covered animals are easy to trip on or get tangled in, and the slick oil often makes things slippery.

“I’ve been told that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists who came through our workshop have been using the skills they learned here,” Schmalz said. “We’ve built a much bigger team as interest in helping with the most recent spill has grown, and we’re much more prepared for the future.”