Emergency: Massive Oil Spill in California

 

  CENTER for BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Devastating news from Southern California: Oil-covered fish and birds are already washing ashore in Huntington Beach after the worst oil spill in the area in decades. At least 126,000 gallons have spilled. The mayor of Newport Beach reported dolphins swimming through oil. Our waters, coastlines and marine wildlife have suffered for too long at the hands of Big Oil. If we're going to save life on Earth, we must move away from fossil fuels and end the senseless, destructive practice of offshore drilling. Please help today with an urgent gift to the Saving Life on Earth Fund. The oil spewed from a pipeline connected to a platform more than eight miles off the coast of California. Our staff has seen this platform by boat and said it looks rusty and corroded. Oil has now reached Newport Beach as well as Huntington. Those beaches have been closed, and volunteers anxious to save wildlife have been asked to stay away. This spill could shut down the beaches for months. The cost to birds and marine wildlife is incalculable. Whales, dolphins and other sea life can be harmed by breathing oil's toxic fumes or die after swimming through oil. Offshore drilling platforms are ticking time bombs. When oil spills into the ocean, it does long-lasting damage to people, animals and our coastlines. The Center has been fighting offshore drilling for decades — and this disaster shows why every offshore drilling project must be opposed. Late last year we won a lawsuit that stopped what would have been the first oil project fully within federal waters in the Arctic. Just last week we helped push Santa Barbara County to deny a proposal that would have allowed ExxonMobil to restart three drilling platforms off its shores. But so much more needs to be done — and with such great urgency. Federal action must be taken to decommission the aging, hazardous platforms off California's coast. Please help by giving to the Saving Life on Earth Fund. For the wild,

Kierán Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity

At least 126,000 gallons of oil have spilled off the Southern California coast. Oil-covered birds and fish are already washing ashore. Dolphins have been seen swimming through oil.

The madness of offshore drilling must end.

 

MassWildlife: Take down bird feeders! Mysterious illness killing off birds in other states.

Linda Roy

Standard-Times

Published Jul 15, 2021 

Songbirds in the midwest and some eastern states are sick and dying and wildlife officials don't know why. The birds are reported to be showing signs of eye swelling with a crusty discharge and neurological oddities.

MassWildlife has issued an advisory for the public to take down bird feeders and bird baths for the time being. No birds with the mysterious illness have been reported in any New England states, but wildlife officials said birds congregating at bird feeders and bird baths can transmit diseases to one another. 

"In late May, wildlife managers in Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky began receiving reports of sick and dying birds with eye swelling and crusty discharge, as well as neurological signs," the advisory stated. Additional reports have been received from Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.

"Some people have reported seeing birds with growths or crusts around their eyes — these signs are most likely either conjunctivitis or avian pox which can be spread easily among birds," said Marion E. Larson of MassWildlife in an email to the Standard-Times. "This is somewhat common and not related to what seems to be happening in other parts of the east coast."

When asked what neurological disorders the public should look out for, Larson said, "neurological signs include staggering, falling over, nervous/excessive tics or trembling/shaking."

A majority of affected birds are reported to be fledgling common grackles, blue jays, European starlings, and American robins, other species of songbirds including cardinals, the advisory noted.

MassWildlife and Mass Audubon are asking the public to be on the lookout for any birds that seem to be exhibiting symptoms of the mysterious illness. 

The public is asked to email reports of dead birds due to unknown circumstances to mass.wildlife@mass.gov and include your location, number and species of birds, symptoms observed, and any photos.

It is not necessary to report dead birds where strong evidence links the mortality to collision with glass or vehicles or predation by cats.