Live in one of the Gulf states? Want to help out with the oil spill? Have an iPhone? Well, there’s something you can do to help out.
MoGO is a free iPhone app developed by scientists at UMass, that allows iPhone owners to become citizen scientists. The purpose of the app is to study the hazardous impact of the BP oil spill to the environment and animals. Information uploaded through the app helps scientists locate and assist oiled wildlife, and keep track of the impact of the oil spill on the environment. The data collected through the app will help scientists map the impacts of the oil spill and mobilize efforts to protect and restore vital habitats for fish and wildlife.
By taking photos of oiled, injured and dead marine and coastal wildlife; tar balls on beaches; oil slicks on water; and oiled coastal habitats, you can help wildlife experts find and rescue oiled and injured animals. Your photos are geo-tagged and added to the MoGO database, and you are connected to the Wildlife Hotline to report your observations so that trained personnel can respond. Uploading photos to the database alone doesn’t guarantee that workers will respond, so make sure to use the “Call Wildlife Hotline” option in MoGO to report oiled and injured wildlife, so wildlife experts can be notified.
Whatever you do, DO NOT try to help the injured or oiled wildlife on your own. Oil poses serious health risks to humans, and workers involved in oil spill and wildlife cleanup have gone through special hazmat training. Also, if you are not trained in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, trying to help out could result in further stressing or injuring the animal, which we don’t want.
