Volunteers helping oil industry with pet and human hair

An army of volunteers are helping the oil industry and tourism authorities to minimise the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill using an innovative combination of pantyhose and pet hair.

Three businesses in Herndon, Virginia, are supplying errant pet hair and human trimmings to be stuffed into pantyhose and used as makeshift booms to prevent oil from washing up on to beaches.

One of the firms, pet grooming brand Wag'N Enterprises, explains that the idea was first thought up in 1989, during the Exxon Valdez spill, with benefits to the oil industry including the fact that no new resources are required in creating the booms.

Ines de Pablo, founder of Wag'N Enterprises, adds: "As a pet emergency management company, it only made sense we get involved with the response and recovery effort in the Gulf Coast."

Pet emergency management is an industry established by Wag'N Enterprises following major events in the US such as September 11th and Hurricane Katrina, and aims to respond specifically to the needs of animal residents after such disasters.

The company is joined by Herndon's Dog-A-Do grooming salon and Dulles Park Barber Shop in providing unneeded but clean human head hair and pet fur for use in the booms.