To say that Dave Wetzel is a morning person would be an understatement. At a humid morning at the Jackson Zoo, Wetzel has already been awake for approximately five and a half hours.
That's because Wetzel, who is the deputy director at the Jackson Zoo, has lots of things occupying his attention. When he heard about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April, he immediately knew it was going to be a problem for animals and wanted to help.
"As soon as it went down and they said they couldn't stop the oil flow, we all prayed that it wasn't going to be as horrible as it turned out, obviously," Wetzel says. "But it doesn't take much oil to injure animals. So as soon as you saw what was pouring out, you knew it was going to become an issue somewhere."
From there, the Pennsylvania native contacted a number of organizations offering to help, and when the Theodore Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Theodore, Ala., sent out a call for help, Wetzel was there.
"I immediately jumped on it," Wetzel says. He has already made the trip from Jackson to Theodore four times and plans to continue making the trip every Friday as long as he is needed, along with several other Jackson zookeepers who will start going down on other days.
At the center, Wetzel holds many of the oil-covered birds while others clean them and helps band birds, attaching tags to study and track them when they are released. He also cleans animal pens and washes dishes for others working at the center. He says he hopes to travel to Theodore at least three days a week.
Wetzel, who has been at the Jackson Zoo for more than 13 years, says he's just happy to help.
"It's no problem for me. It's only three hours. It's been a lot of fun driving down," Wetzel says, who drives back to Jackson the same day.
His commitment is infectious, and, depending on the spill, he says may be just getting started.
"I'm not too proud to do whatever is necessary to let the people that really know what they're doing to get it done and get it done quickly."
Visit Volunteer Mississippi's website do to learn more about how you can help with oil spill recovery efforts.
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