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Loading...Oil Spill Will Spell Trouble for Wildlife Long After It’s Repaired
The massive oil spill currently being battled in the Gulf of Mexico will impact tens of thousands of marine animals and wildlife. The accident occurred in an area that is already environmentally fragile and at a time when many species are taking care of their young.
But even after the leak is repaired and most of us move on to our normal daily lives, the animals in the region will be feeling the long term effects of the devastation. For some, it may spell the end of their species.
In 1989 a similar oil spill from the Exxon Valdez along Alaska’s Prince William Sound killed more than 250,000 animals that included: seabirds, sea otters, harbor seals, bald eagles and killer whales. Twenty-one years later the affected area is still trying to recover from the disaster.
Before the Exxon Valdez spill, the region thrived with herring and salmon. Those fish were a main food source for a pod of orca whales that populated the area. After the clean-up, the herring never returned to the Prince William Sound and only a limited number of salmon have popped up over the years. Today the pod of whales is considered “threatened.”
Biologists in the Gulf are concerned that a similar ripple effect will hit their area, as well.
It is too soon to know just how much damage the oil spill will bring to wildlife, but the Gulf coast is already comprised of fragile wetlands and marshes that have been worn down by humans and nature. These areas are home to many endangered species.
Currently there are about 2,000 endangered seabirds known as “least terns” who have just laid their eggs on the Gulfport beaches. Alison Sharpe, director of Wildlife Care and Rescue Center, Inc. told CBS News, ”The spill has the great potential of wiping out the entire population of least terns along our coast area.”
And it is estimated that up to 5,000 bottlenose dolphins are in the surrounding waters, calving their offspring. Scientists are concerned that the playful dolphins will try to explore the oil spill area or eat fish that have been exposed to the oil. Both could cause long term harm to the dolphins and their young.
Also along the Gulf beaches in Texas and Mexico the entire population of the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle are nested with their young for the next several months. If the oil moves in their direction, the whole species could be gone.
A Louisiana charter boat captain named Bob summed it up by saying,”My kids will be talking about the effect of this when they’re my age.”
Dr. Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi worries about the future of all marine life in the Gulf. ”Even if the oil stays mostly offshore, the consequences could be dire for sea turtles, dolphins and other deepwater marine life, and microscopic plankton and tiny creatures that are a staple of larger animals’ diets,” said Solangi.
The Gulf of Mexico is an incredible diverse ecosystem that is the natural habitat to fives types of threatened sea turtles and seven endangered or threatened groups of whales.
Experts estimate that more than 400 species will be impacted by the spill. Biologists, marine specialists and other wildlife authorities are utilizing their expertise to create a game plan to aid animals in the aftermath of the spill.
But no one really knows how this will end or what the long term effects will be on the wildlife that calls this region home. One expert called the disaster “the ultimate Pandora’s box.”
Click Here to sign the Care2 petition to rethink offshore oil drilling.
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Check out all of Care2′s coverage of the spill.
Read more: animal welfare, endangered species, gulf oil spill, marine life oil spill, oil spill, wildlife and oil spill
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+ add your ownPlease watch the YouTube video explaining facts about Halliburton, also Goldman Sachs bank (major BP shareholder), in relation to this disaster. Evidence points strongly towards the planned rupturing of the huge and highly volatile methane gas deposit at this site, in order to cause a runaway disaster. This is Adrian Salbuchi, a geo-political economics analyst -- The Well From Hell.
Absolutely blood boiling and heartbreaking.
Once life is lost, it is lost forever.No repentance or explanations or reversible programs can bring it back.Carelessness and negligence should receive severe punishment so that nobody will repeat it again.
BP is going to attempt a "Top Kill" operation, but the success of it isn't assured. I do not think that BP is going to have any real chances to control the well until they finish the offset well they are drilling now. That may be sometime in August or September depending on drilling conditions and the weather (Hurricanes).
oil is unnecessary if gov't would just start implementing clean energy programs
First of all I am sick and tired of everyone blaming Obama for every damn thing!! How stupid can everyone who does that be! He is only a man! One man!!! Like WTF he is doing his best! I bet half the people on here writing ignorance haven't sent their congressmen letters of discontent in regards to issues similar to this, but yet everyone has the nerves to blame Obama all the time!!! Foolish people!!!!!! Focus on the issues and YOU take appropriate measures to assure things like this don't happen because before this spill happened no one was concern about the drilling that has been taking place for years, real talk! Start to pay attention to everything that is going on in the world and we all need to take actions to prevent things like this from happening. The question now is how can we all help to make sure this doesn't happen again? And what could we all do to help out in this time of need? This planet belongs to us all and it will take the efforts of all to rectify this situation. So please enough with the Obama bashing and stay focused people! We all have let presidents like Bush/Bush blindside us with materialist things that have nothing to do with our survival. Man & Man working together is what has helped man to progress and move forward. Together we will make this world a more productive, healthier and fruitful place for all to live in. God bless this world and give us all the strength we need to defeat evil forces walking amongst us.
K Baines
This is so tragic!... No matter how much money they will pay for the clean up it will never be enough to redeem the massive damage cause to the environment Money can't replace life
people shouldnt be doing this , CLEAN IT UP
or DONT DO IT AT ALL. i hav know idea how people can be so selfish
Why isn't this mess on the nightly news every single nite? It should be the biggest story on the news and given priority. Barbara Walters' heart surgery was actually on before an update of the oil "CRIME" last nite. WTF? Someone is apparently trying to downplay the story. There should be way more news coverage. BP has no f**king clue what they are doing now that the containment dome have failed. Mean while the oil continues to gush into the precious ocean waters and onto the the fragile marshlands endangering everything it comes into contact with. Tnis is a CRIME!!!!.
It's horrible to spoil so much ocean and life in it!
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