Diane Haynes began volunteering with the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC after witnessing a canola oil spill in Vancouver's Burrard Inlet. First published at the age of eight, she worked as an ice cream scooper, shoe salesperson, receptionist, marketing director, and technical editor before realizing she'd had it all figured out in grade three. As a freelance feature writer, she's published stories about fashion, whales, art, TV production, an Olympic athlete, storms, mental illness, eligible bachelors, and dangerous jobs. Diane lives in Burnaby and is the author of the Jane Ray Wildlife Rescue series.

Jane tore off her shoes and socks and eased herself over the wall into the ice—cold water. It reached her waist and seemed to cling to her in shiny beads like… oil. When the next wave carried the duck toward her, she reached both hands over its folded wings and plucked it out of the sea. It didn't fight her?it didn't have the strength. She waded toward a set of concrete steps further along the wall, and clambered back up to the path, careful not to loosen her grip. The bird's feathers were slick with oil, and Jane could now see that the entire surface of the Inlet glistened a sickly yellow.