Newsletter / Blog
2011-06-02 How many birds were killed in the BP oil spill?
How many birds were killed, injured or otherwise affected by the millions of gallons of oil that rushed toward shorelines?
That’s one of the major questions federal scientists and state
biologists are wrestling with as they approach the anniversary of the
disaster. The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank off Louisiana’s
coast April 20, killing 11 crewmembers and unleashing more than 170
million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil lapped into
marshes, beaches, barrier islands and other nesting places for thousands
of birds that inhabit the Gulf.
The official count is 8,065 live and dead birds affected by the
spill, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports. That number
includes 932 pelicans and 3,300 laughing gulls, the reports show.
The total count is certain to spike dramatically, says Melanie
Driscoll, the National Audubon Society’s director of bird conservation
for the Gulf of Mexico, who has assisted in the bird counts, consisting
of birds that volunteers and workers actually saw. Thousands more hit by
the crude likely sank to an unrecorded death in the marshes, bayous and
deep waters of the Gulf, she says.
“Injury to animals is not just a death count,” Driscoll says. “It’s
also something that could affect their fitness or longevity or
reproductive ability for years to come.” |