For Oiled Wildlife, Dawn Cleans Best

in the 50’s and 60’s, “different substances were applied to the feathers of oiled birds, some of which were: mascara remover, butter, lard, powdered chalk, waterless hand cleaner, acetone, detergent and various oils.” None worked very well, which led to one not-so-bright idea in the early 70’s. At that time, oiled birds were covered with warmed mineral oil and then corn meal, thought to absorb the oils.

“That was not what happened,” Holcomb said. “The end result of this process was a bird resembling a giant corn dog!”

The IBRRC and other groups next tried certain solvents and cleansers, most of which were difficult to rinse out and were irritating to the skin and feathers of the animals, and bothered the human staff as well. IBRRC founder Alice Berkner and her team then started to try out “off the shelf” dishwashing detergents and “one, and only one, had us jumping up and down,” according to Holcomb.

“Dawn dishwashing liquid was a standout!” he exclaimed. “Oil seemed to fall off the feathers! Rinsing was easier than we thought possible. Once we started using Dawn on live birds, we did not see the irritated skin we had encountered with the previous detergent.”

Marie-Laure Salvado, a spokesperson for Procter & Gamble (P&G), the parent company of Dawn, told Discovery News that the liquid detergent was designed to “provide powerful degreasing action while still being mild on human hands.” That benefit wound up extending to birds, since she said the soap, when diluted to about 1 percent with water, “is gentle enough to be used on delicate feathers.”