Chatham animal clinic collects fur for oil spill cleanup

CHATHAM — One local veterinary clinic found a way to use the fur clippings usually thrown away by the groomer.

Chatham Animal Clinic’s sign reads, “COLLECTING PET FUR TO AID GULF CLEAN UP.” A waste can inside near the grooming area has been filling with fur for the past two weeks.

The locally donated fur and hair clippings could possibly aid the cleanup of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — the result of a leaking oil well after an April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.

“I thought this would be fun and would get people involved,” said clinic office manager Sherry Crews. “This is the only earth we have and we need to take care of it.”

Crews learned about the unique efforts of Matter of Trust, a San Francisco-based environmental charity that specializes in fiber recycling, by listening to the radio a few weeks ago.

Matter of Trust found that packing “matted” fur or hair into nylon hose could create “hair booms” that absorb oil. The nonprofit helped to clean up oil spills using hair booms in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a news release.

“Simply put, we shampoo because hair collects oil. It soaks up skin oils, grabs oil from the pollution in the air, and it can soak up petroleum in oil spills,” Lisa Craig Gautier, executive director of Matter of Trust, said via news release.

Now, Matter of Trust is coordinating donations from across the country and efforts to assemble hair booms in case BP and the response team need them, according to a news release.

BP leaders said the company is responsible for cleaning up the petroleum and is working with the U.S. Coast Guard, federal agencies and contractors to minimize the environmental impact.

BP did not send a call out for the hair booms and a company spokesman referred to the BP “Community Response Fact Sheet,” which stated “spill response plans are being implemented consistent with the national, region and state oil spill response plans that are already in place and with input on priority locations from state and local experts.”

Dr. Lisa Shorter, veterinarian and co-owner of the clinic, thought the idea made sense and the clinic registered with the charity two weeks ago. She also has friends now living on the coast in Alabama as she went to Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. She knows its oil spills are “devastating” to those coastal areas.

“It’s our participation in the cleanup without really being there,” Shorter said.

The clinic is collecting drop-off donations of both animal fur and human hair. Local alpaca farmers, horse owners and hair salons have already made donations, Shorter said.

Shorter will ship the collected hair to a specified warehouse in a high priority site, most likely to be Florida. The human hair and animal fur must be kept separate and free of debris.

“It’s a novelty, something fun,” Crews added. “And it’s easy to do.”

How to help: Donate fur or hair clippings at Chatham Animal Clinic at 34 Pruden St. in Chatham.
Hours: Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. to noon, closed Sundays
For more information, call (434) 432-2273 or visit http://www.matteroftrust.org.