Oil companies and their republicans claim protecting the 5,000 aces whee the dunes sagebrush survives will wipe out the NM economy.
Keep reading Republicans try to make villain of dunes sagebrush Lizard
 In the budget compromise, Republicans defunded the BLM Wild Lands program. Ostensibly, its to promote oil drilling, but the “wilderness plan” also happens to be the latest right-wing conspiracy. “Wilderness policy” is the 2010’s black helicopters and FEMA. Keep reading Also sold out in the budget: “Wilderness Policy,” the right’s current “black helicopters”  Manatee, by Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute So far no manatee has turned up oiled after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill earlier this year. But 656 of the goofy, endangered marine mammals have turned up dead, according to the latest statistics from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. That’s a devastating 13% of the population. The biggest problem was a cold spell last winter, but we may never know if or what role the oil had. Cathy Beck, who manages the Manatee Individual Photo-identification System (MIPS), says the oil spill was “extremely worrisome,” but so far no oiled manatees in the area where the oil spread. Their next concern is that the remaining oil will seep into the seagrass manatees eat. They’ll be on the lookout for any oil or dispersant residue this winter when they capture 10 or so (as they do each year) and give them a physical, including testing blood and tissue samples. Defenders of Wildlife, Save the Manatees and other wildlife groups sued BP saying they violated the Endangered Species Act by harming the 27 threatened or endangered species that live in the gulf. Save the Manatees says that the big problem was the cold weather at the beginning of the year, which also lead to spectacular photos and record manatees counts (5,076) as the manatees crowded around natural springs and power plants to stay warm. “In total, more than 300 manatees are believed to have died from this lingering event, shattering the previous Keep reading Manatees Not Showing Oil, But Dying a Lot  BP is funding recovery of the endangered sea turtles “I think the consensus in the turtle community is that there’s no harm keeping healthy animals safe. That was the emphasis of our request for funding. I think that was by far the most important thing in our mind,” says George. Keep reading How is the Money BP Pledged to Help Turtles Being Spent?  My personal opinion is, what’s the harm of trying? It could be a total disaster if the oil spill continues and spreads. Why not spend some money to keep these turtles out of the way? Keep reading Help Stop Sending Kemp’s Ridley Turtle Hatchlings Into the Gulf Oil Spill  When BP restarts burning off spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico (possibly as early as Friday), they’ll have to have a trained biologist on board to search for sea turtles entrapped in the muck, thanks to a deal struck with wildlife groups July 2. Keep reading BP To Have Biologist On Board (Looking for Sea Turtles) When They Resume Oil Burns This Week  A network of turtle volunteer groups have the data to make decent map of every turtle nest in the gulf, including species and probable hatching time. Keep reading Turtle Volunteers’ Vast Map of Gulf Nests Aids in Emergency Transplant Out of BP Oil
Wildlife rescuers in the gulf are getting so few oiled animals they’re starting to worry that the cost per animal seem ridiculous. After Exxon we had reports of “$80,000 otters.” If you hear anything about a $300,000 sea gull, be skeptical. Mike Ziccardi, a veterinarian who runs Oiled Wildlife Care Network, has been offering the most candid and complete news on the wildlife situation on their blog. He’s been bracing for both an onslaught of injured animals and a backlash against the cost of saving them. “This response is likely to be very costly when it is all said and done – especially if compared on a “per-bird” or “per-turtle/mammal” basis (or at least I hope it is, as that will imply low animal numbers),” he writes today. Continue reading The Price of All This Cleaning Up Oiled Wildlife?   How does the Deepwater Horizon oil spill compare to the historical monster of Exxon Valdez, by which we judge all oil disasters? How long will this go on? We went back to the records of Valdez to look at its size and what we might lay ahead. In the Valdez spill Scientific American reports that 2,000 sea otters, 302 harbor seals and about 250,000 seabirds died in the first few days. So far we have only 2 birds in care that I know of. Rescuers retrieved a total of 36,471 carcasses and captured 1,630 live birds, the IBRRC reports. The Valdez spill was March 24, 1989. The last wildlife rehab center closed September 6 of that year. The Deepwater Horizon spill was on April 22, 2009. By that measure, rehabbers will be on the scene until early October. By the 10th day of the Valdez oil spill, rescuers were finding 180 oiled birds per square mile, the Coast Guard reported. The oil spread so far in Prince William Sound that rescuers had to set up four wildlife care centers. They’ve already set up three down south. There are Oiled Bird Rescue Centers in Fort Jackson, Louisiana, Theodore, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. How long will it take the wildlife to recover? Here’s the really scary part. They’re still digging up oil in Valdez and some species are still recovering. Where to Go to See Wildlife Where to Go See Wildlife Down South RESCUE GROUPS International Bird Rescue Research Center, based in Keep reading Valdez: A Comparison for Wildlife 
Brown pelicans, just removed from the Endangered Species List three months ago, are getting slammed by California’s polluted storms. These swimming birds can cope with rain far more gracefully than whiny Los Angelenos have been. But the water is so polluted that they have to be treated like oil spill victims. The International Bird Rescue Research Center had 80 pelicans by 7 p.m. Friday and expects they’ll be treating 100 hypothermic birds this weekend. There’s a bit of callous reaction to the brown pelican‘s plight. One comment on the Washington Post site said it was just the “circle of life.” But they aren’t dying because of storms; they’re freezing because the contaminants break down their natural waterproofing and insulation. “Brown pelicans tend to feed and congregate near harbors and river mouths where nutrients from the runoff attract fish and other creatures. Pelicans can easily become dirty from pollution in these areas and can lose their waterproofing. The current massive runoff from the storms has brought even more grease, car oil sheen, fish oils and other forms of surface pollution into the coastal areas where these birds feed,” says executive director Jay Holcomb in a letter to supporters. “We wash them just as if there had been an oil spill. We use dish-washing liquid,” spokesman Paul Kelway told the AP. It takes about a week and $500 of treatment for the birds to recover from hypothermia. The center has responded to 150 oil spills around the world and treated Keep reading LA Rain So Polluted Pelicans Have to Be Treated Like Oil Spill Victims |
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