Over 300 dead birds are likely Gulf spill victims

[IScreamSundays]

Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES, May 24 (Reuters) - More than 300 sea birds, the bulk of them brown pelicans and northern gannets, have been found dead along the U.S. Gulf Coast during the first five weeks of BP's huge oil spill off Louisiana, wildlife officials reported on Monday.

The 316 birds found dead along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida -- plus 10 others that died or were euthanized at wildlife rehabilitation centers after they were captured alive, far outnumber the 31 surviving birds found oiled to date.

The raw tally of birds listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as dead on arrival at wildlife collection facilities include specimens obviously tainted with oil and some with no visible signs of oil contamination.

But all are being counted as potential casualties of the oil gushing since April 20 from a ruptured wellhead on the floor of the Gulf because of their proximity in time and space to the spill, said Jay Holcomb, who directs a rescue center for birds in Fort Jackson, Louisiana.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2418567820100524?type=marketsNews

[uppityperson]

1. phtotos from nola.com...

http://photos.nola.com/4500/gallery/oil_seeping_into_barataria_bay/index.html

A nesting pelican in Barataria Bay near Cat Island is covered in brown oil from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday May 23 2010.


A Roseated Spoonbill, top right, pelicans, and heron fly over a Pelican covered with oil, bottom center, from Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in Barataria Bay Sunday May 23 2010.

[Earth_First]

2. How horrible...

It's almost getting to the point where I cannot pay attention any longer.

However, that's exactly what BP/Transocean would rather I do...

[awoke_in_2003]

3. k&r. nt