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Notes From The Gulf Oil Disaster 2010
KINSHIP CIRCLE is focused on wildlife harmed in the Deepwater Horizon
disaster. Partnering with World Animal Awareness Society, our volunteers:
- Comb beaches, estatuaries, nesting grounds and open waters — traveling hundreds of miles daily in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — to find distressed animals and map the oil's present and long-term impact.
- Locate and report suffering animals to area Unified Command Centers.
- Give GPS coordinates and details on oiled wildlife — that expedite rescue and save lives.
- Embed on planes and boats with US Fish And Wildlife, Coast Guard and other agencies/officials to monitor oil damage and wildlife impacts.
- Document the oil disaster's influence on animal habitat and survival.
- Maintain a real-time map that charts our journey in photos, videos, interviews, news.
OCTOBER 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Ecosystems As Far As Canada In Turmoil From BP Oil Disaster
SUBMITTED BY: Michelle Way, World Animal Awareness Society
NEWS MEDIA: BP spill threatens a third of Canadian gannets, CBS NEWS
10/21/10: GULF OF MEXICO — NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR, CANADA
THOUSANDS OF CANADIAN BIRDS AT RISK FROM BP OIL DISASTER
Canadian northern gannets of Newfoundland and Labrador are in trouble due to BP's mammoth oil surge into the Gulf of Mexico. Newer research shows 35 percent of eastern Canadian gannets flock to the Gulf each year. "It's difficult to say how many from Eastern Canada have died in the oil spill," says bird biologist Bill Montevecchi of Memorial University of Newfoundland... READ MORE
LT PHOTO: A Northern Gannet coated in oil, at Clean Gulf Associates Mobile Wildlife Rehab in Fort Jackson, LA 4/30/10, Reuters. RT PHOTO: A Northern Gannet bird is normally white when full grown. NationalGeographic.com, photo by Chris Johns.
10/15/10: BAY JIMMY, LOUISIANA
POP! BANG! BOOM!
Responders in Venice, LA use noise cannons set to go off every 2-3 minutes. The loud noises scare away birds from oil-impacted areas. SEE VIDEO
10/12/10: GULF OF MEXICO
NEW OIL DETECTED IN BARATARIA BAY AND ELSEWHERE. WHERE IS CLEAN-UP?
Though plugged in July, oil from BP's rig explosion still washes ashore. An American Birding Association expedition describes Gulf Shores, AL beaches overwhelmed with oil stench… “Floating oil in Barataria Bay north of Grand Terre Island was reddish, snotty stuff in linear slicks, extending down into the water column…” READ MORE
10/9/10: FLORIDA, ALABAMA
SUCCESS! SEA TURTLE HATCHLINGS SPARED FROM OIL
As oil closed in on Florida and Alabama beaches, a zero-hour effort to save endangered sea turtles began. Officials and volunteers unearthed turtle eggs by the thousands and transported them to Kennedy Space Center to hatch. Kinship Circle/WA2S.org volunteers were involved with one such relocation of Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle eggs at Gulf Islands National Seashore. U.S. Fish and Wildlife reports that of 25,000 transferred eggs, 14,676 (over half) hatched babies who were released into oil-free Atlantic waters… READ MORE
10/4/10: GULF OF MEXICO
“LINE OF DEATH” DIVIDES LIVE AND DEAD BEINGS
AP's Rich Matthews dives into the Gulf of Mexico and finds a clear line between living and dead creatures on supports that hold on to an oil rig. A delineation marks where life ends and death begins...with virtually nothing alive above 35 feet. Scientists are uncertain, but say the probability is high that the reef's damage comes from toxic dispersants and oil…
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
September 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Spike In Dead Birds Expected; Other Gulf Species At Risk
SUBMITTED BY: Michelle Way, World Animal Awareness Society
CONTRIBUTORS: Darlene M. Eschete, wildlife photographer and resident oil disaster monitor; PJ Hahn, Plaquemines Parish Coastal Management Director; On Wings Of Care
9/18/10: PLAQUEMINES PARISH — Louisiana
THOUSANDS MORE DEAD FISH WASH UP IN PLAQUEMINES PARISH
Bayou Robinson, Plaquemines Parish: For the third time this Sept., Plaquemines officials report a mass fish kill. PJ Hahn, director for Coastal Zone Management, photographs dead fish so dense, they form a canopy over the water. Previous kills were reported in Bay Chaland (9/10/10) and Bay Joe Wise (9/16/10). Most fish are menhaden, also called pogie.
Plaquemines Coastal Management Director PJ Hahn says fish span at least one-fourth sq. mile, with visible oil between them. Hahn wants the area tested for oil impacts.
9/15/10: TRINITY ISLAND, ISLES DERNIERES — Louisiana
DEATH IN A BAG
Today, while volunteering with National Audubon Society, boats return with two dead terns collected from Trinity Island. The birds are placed in a sack, tagged and recorded. Then the transporter drives them to the rehabilitation center in Hammond, LA. I am forced to photograph their “death in a bag” with my cell phone because photos [via a noticeable camera] are not allowed in secured areas. From DARLENE M. ESCHETE, a professional wildlife photographer who lives in Louisiana and has documented oil repercussions on native animals since the onset of this disaster. She has joined Kinship Circle/World Animal Awareness Society expeditions and continues to contribute news from the Gulf.
LEFT PHOTO: Kinship Circle/WA2S.org volunteers record oiled brown pelicans at the IBRRC cleaning/rehab operation. MIDDLE: A lone laughing gull slogs through the Deep Water Horizon oil disaster. RIGHT: Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research staff hydrate a Northern Gannet bird covered in oil from the BP spill off the coast of Louisiana. Laughing gulls lead the dead-bird list, followed by brown pelicans and northern gannets.
9/14/10: GULF OF MEXCO — Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Texas
USFWS RELEASES DETAILED LIVE/DEAD ANIMAL INFORMATION
Today marks the first time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services publicizes specific data on live/dead collected birds — including entire species and mapped locations. Until now, postings lumped birds by state as oiled, dead or alive. BASIC SUMMARY: USFWS website lists 3,634 dead birds and 1,042 live birds in areas impacted by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. It remains unclear why USFWS reports only 4,676 birds, while the latest Deepwater Horizon Response Consolidated Fish & Wildlife Report lists 8,009 birds.
9/13/10: PLAQUEMINES PARISH — Louisiana
BABY WHALE DEAD ON PLAQUEMINES BEACH
Southwest Pass, Plaquemines: A deceased baby whale washes ashore. Plaquemines Coastal Management Director PJ Hahn is with Louisiana Fish and Wildlife as they collect the animal. The Gulf of Mexico is home to roughly 1600 resident whales. Only adult males leave. Females and their young remain in the Gulf throughout their lives.
9/9/10: TEXAS TO FLORIDA — Gulf Of Mexico
SEA TURTLE FOCUS SWITCHES TO RELEASE
With less sea turtles found who need rehabilitation, wildlife scientists from Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill Unified Command shift focus to releasing recovered turtles. They continue near-shore stranding and salvage network efforts. Scientists also study how endangered and threatened turtle populations are impacted by the BP oil disaster.
Cedar Key, Florida — Kemp's Ridley sea turtles are released off the Gulf coast. The turtles received treatment and care, including cleaning and de-oiling, at the Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans and at Gulf World in Panama City, FL Photo by Rob Tritton
9/7/10: HOUMA, LOUISIANA — Raccoon and Whiskey Islands
EXPECTATIONS GROW OF A SPIKE IN DEAD BIRDS COLLECTED...
Scientists first begin to search Raccoon and Whiskey Islands for birds this week.
Nesting colonies off Terrebonne Parish, previously off limits, will be scoured for about two weeks. Rhonda Murgatroyd, owner of Wildlife Response Services, under BP contract for bird recovery, says scientists did not seize oiled birds in rookeries due to the risk of disturbing nesting birds and their young. “There was a big outcry about leaving these oiled birds,” Murgatroyd said. Louisiana has about 140 nesting colonies. As of 9/5/10, wildlife responders have collected 1,531 live oiled birds and 3,261 dead birds. In June, Kinship Circle volunteers photographed oiled Royal Tern babies along oily edges of Queen Bess Island, LA. But responders authorized to handle wildlife could not risk “trampling” the island as birds nested. We later learned that all these babies perished... Baby birds are oiled because species such as laughing gulls nest near shores. Chicks are very active days after hatching — wandering along shorelines as crude-stained waters roll in.
A dwarf seahorse, found only in waters off the Gulf Coast. The species is at risk because of habitat loss, say conservationists. Photograph: Robert F. Sisson/NG/Getty Images
9/7/10: GULF OF MEXICO — Florida
WORLD'S SMALLEST SEAHORSE FACES EXTINCTION AFTER BP OIL SPILL
Habitat loss could cause a dramatic fall in dwarf seahorse numbers, warn conservationists. The minute creatures, barely 2cm tall, were elusive even before the spill, found only in seagrass in shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Now conservationists from the Zoological Society of London's Project Seahorse team say populations could fall precipitously because so much of their habitat may have been lost to the spill.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2010: GULF COAST — Louisiana to Florida
BONNIE SCHUMAKER, ONWINGSOFCARE.ORG
Bonnie Schumaker flies over the Gulf to help scientists find and tag whale sharks, for University of Southern Mississippi and Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. Since May, Bonnie has tracked oil and wildlife for a broad base of scientists, logging over 250 hours “flying low and slow” from coastal waters of Louisiana to Florida. Read Bonnie's report from this productive weekend of locating whale sharks, plus other wild-LIFE reports in Gulf waters.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
Sept 5, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Wildlife Photographer Darlene Eschete Revisits Racoon Island — Dead Dolphin We Spotted Is Still There!
EXCERPTS FROM: CNN iReport LOUISIANA BARRIER ISLAND, RACCOON POINT
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Racoon Island And Barrier Islands Off Terrebonne Parish
CNN iReport Excerpts, 9/5/10: by Darlene Eschete — Today I returned to the same island I had visited nine days ago, Coon Point. I was on a chartered boat with Shawn Carey (Migration Productions), Drew Wheelan (ABA) and Charles Bush (local photographer). They wanted to “see” what others and I have seen...dead birds and the dead dolphin that had washed ashore just last week that [Kinship Circle’s Brenda Shoss] reported to the BP Houma Command Center Hotline for oiled or dead wildlife.
Our Captain, Bob Lake, took us to the eastern point of the island...jumped in the water and pulled the boat to shore so we could get out without getting our equipment wet... The first bird I came across was a dead laughing gull. Then another and another. We saw hundreds of terns and thousands of pelicans perched on the rock jetties and sand bar. Many species of waterfowl were present along the island. But, mostly the pelican. The estimated number of remaining pelicans were 3-4,000 from a reported 10,000 strong previously.
We counted 16 dead birds in all, but I am sure there were many more. All in bad decomposing stages — mostly just feathers and bones.
I continued to walk along the bay side and noticed weathered oil on the rocks, black in color. The oil was in spots, some large, some small. I continued to walk on the beach/bay side up to the mangroves where the pelicans were still nesting. I scanned the area for dead birds. Thank God, I saw none. More immature pelicans were still perched in their nests. All white with just a touch of brown beginning to show up in their feathers...
Making our way back to the surf side, we traveled about a half mile westward and came upon the dolphin spotted nine days ago. It had decomposed pretty bad.
The skin took on a rubberized, black look except for the bright orange paint that was sprayed across it's body by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "LDWF" it read, in big, bright, orange letters. It was sickening to see that the eyeball had popped out it's socket! Just thinking about how this mammal died...The trauma and pain it must have felt is devastating. Why did they use so much toxins in our water? If the oil didn't kill them, then the dispersants mixed with the oil did... But, for many others that I have called in, they may have survived. And that makes every day that I do this so worthwhile. READ REST OF DARLENE'S REPORT
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
Sept 1-4, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Black Pellets In The Surf; Another Gulf Oil Platform Explodes
SUBMITTED BY: June Towler and Traci Dawson, Kinship Circle Team #7
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Dauphine Island, Alabama
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 9/2/10: Scott Rikard, Natural Resources Program Manager for Auburn University Marine Extension & Research Center, shows us an oyster reef situated below the university's building. They are “growing” oysters from larval stage through adulthood. He describes potential oil impact on Alabama oysters, though tests to date are negative. They are concerned about next generation oysters, now in larval stages. Larvae swim the ocean, consuming phytoplankton and algae, and are vulnerable to oil and dispersant. Repercussions won't emerge until larvae move into their next growth cycle. We mention empty oyster shells found in Pass Christian, MS and parts of AL, but Rikard tells us they've not turned up on Alabama's coast...
We are again turned away from a BP station on Dauphin Island, with no information forthcoming from security guards. We proceed to Dauphin Island Beach to check out rumors of oil, but are averted by BP security there too. We capture these BP interactions on video... Next, we walk the shores of a public beach and photograph tar balls. Kinship Circle's June Towler accidentally steps on a gooey ball, allowing us to film the residue in her footprints. We encounter five dead crabs here, along with several live ones in the ocean surf. Dead crabs float in a dirty pool of isolated water that a local says emerged over the last few days. Minnow-like fish swim in these separate pools. We see many gulls, two herons and small sandpiper type birds. Ocean waters are a grimy brown. A light oil odor is present. Millions of little black “pellets” pepper the sand where surf waves roll in and recede. Locals tell us they've never seen black pellets before...
At 9:18am, the Mariner Vermillion 380 gas production oil platform explodes in shallow waters south of Terrebonne Bay, Louisiana. Thirteen crewmembers escape this new blast by jumping into the water outfitted in protective “Gumby Suits.” No causalities are reported. The media state that this is not an operating platform and thus there are no “oil spill issues.” Houston-based Mariner Energy, Inc. concurs: “In an initial flyover, no hydrocarbon spill was reported.“ U.S. Coast Guard agrees that there is no evidence of a leak. However, USCG Petty Officer Bill Coklough mentions oil sheen, about a hundred yards long by ten yards wide, from the Vermillion platform...
Sept 1-4, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Rehab And Red Tape; Alabama's Manatees Tracked
SUBMITTED BY: June Towler and Traci Dawson, Kinship Circle Team #7
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Gulf Shore, Alabama and Dauphine Island, Alabama
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 9/1/10: We interview Patty Hall, Director of the Little Zoo That Could, to ask how the oil disaster has affected their facility. Mainly, Little Zoo has seen a drop in tourism dollars. Hall worries about how they'll secure enough funding for animal care this winter. Hall also describes the building that Little Zoo established to receive oiled wildlife. They've acquired many supplies, but no animals have been taken here. In what appears to be red tape, three command agencies — U.S. Fish And Wildlife, Tristate Bird Rescue, and BP — must approve a site for oiled animal rehab. USFW and BP have signed off on Little Zoo, but Tristate will not. In the meantime, Little Zoo fields accusations from people asking why they aren't helping oiled animals. Little Zoo cannot risk loss of its nonprofit status by treating oiled animals without Tristate's approval.
Our next interview is with Dr. Ruth Carmichael of Dauphin Island Sea Lab. As part of Alabama's Manatee Project, Dr. Carmichael leads the effort to track manatees and assess oil and dispersant impacts on them. Manatees are shoreline marine mammals who make direct contact with contaminated shorelines. While no oiled manatees have been found yet, the gentle giants travel long distances. No one really knows what repercussions oil will have on their food sources, reproduction, etc.
Scientists at Dauphin Island Sea Lab are conducing research fo find out more about manatees in Alabama. To report manatee sightings in Alabama waters, call 1-866-493-5803, or email: manatee@disl.org
Sept 1-4, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Frustrated Experts Do What They Can For Wildlife
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel McKay Laskowski and Craig Hill, Kinship Circle Team #7
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Grand Isle, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 9/1/10: At 10:00am, we meet with Leann Sarco, Interpretive Ranger for Grande Isle Louisiana State Park, to discuss her Hermit Crab Survival Project. Sarco focuses on the hermit crabs seen struggling in huge oil slicks along the park's beach. She has rescued over 7,000 hermit crabs. As we observe her process today, we notice oil on the back beach that BP has never cleaned. The oil now oozes into the ground. If a shovel is used to dig down a foot or two, a layer of pure oil is exposed. In some locations, one shovel full reveals the oil. Low tide shows oiled sand bars along this national park beach. We are told that all surrounding islands share this condition.
Above, oil is found inside a dead crab at Pensacola Beach, FL. During our interview with Leann Sarco, we witness the relocation of nearly 700 hermit crabs. Sarco, a Grande Isle Louisiana State Park Ranger, seeks supplies and volunteers to support her Hermit Crab Survival Project. To donate or volunteer, contact Leann Sarco. RELATED ARTICLES:
Oil Pooling Elbow Deep Under the Sand of Grand Isle; The Coast Is Not Clear - Oil, fear and disappointment rise to the surface PHOTO (C) WA2S.ORG / KINSHIP CIRCLE
On 9/4/10, Plaquemines Parish Coastal Management Director PJ Hahn tells Kinship Circle's Rachel Laskowski: “We have found so many dead hermit crabs everywhere — it's unbelievable! This week we had hundreds of starfish wash up along Pass Chaland. I was too busy to photograph the event, but we had contractors take pictures.”
We also interview local wildlife photographer Darlene Eschete, who spots wildlife and records the oil's encroachment. Her emotions run high when speaking about the many dead birds she has seen. We film Eschete after she reports a lethargic gull. While filming, the gull flies away. We are still on site when a U.S. Fish and Wildlife boat arrives. Kinship Circle's Craig Hill films the interaction between Eschete and USFW. The agency tells a story about a pelican they proudly rescued who now inhabits the Audubon Zoo... Drew Wheelan of American Birding Association later joins us for an interview about his experiences on Grande Isle. He informs us of the Royal Tern chick deaths on Queen Bess Island and confesses his regret about not rescuing one oiled pelican who swam across the boom to an island. Wheelan is highly qualified in handling and banding birds, but is threatened with a fine if he touches any animals.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
Aug 22-31, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Rescued Sea Turtle Update At Audubon Aquarium
SUBMITTED BY: Brenda Shoss, Executive Director, Kinship Circle
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/31/10: Audubon Aquarium currently displays 3 rehabbed sea turtles on its ground floor. Upstairs, 1 of 2 turtles has died. Most are endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles, along with a Hanksbill turtle. Kinship Circle's Brenda Shoss asks staff about the turtles, but they refer her to Meghan Calhoun in Public Relations. Some 190 oiled sea turtles have come through here. Of those 190, 3 have died. Among the remaining 187 turtles, 45 are transferred to a holding facility in Florida and 23 are released. Just this morning, an unspecified number of turtles are released off Marco Island. Ms. Calhoun says Audubon hopes future releases will occur in Louisiana rather than neighboring states.
Before the Deepwater Horizon rig was plugged, turtles arrived thickly coated in marshmallow-textured oil. Brown goop coated them inside and out, lining their mouths, throats, organs, etc. Boat teams cleaned them at sea before bringing them in. No severely oiled turtles have come in since 8/8/10, Calhoun says — while stressing that the crisis is far from over. With 150 turtles still under Audubon care, an out-of-sight/out-of-mind attitude is premature. She cites concern about the dispersant's effect on animals and people.
Aug 22-31, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Now Finding More Dead Birds Than Lives Ones
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel McKay Laskowski and Craig Hill, Kinship Circle Team #7
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Hammond, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/30/10: We follow-up interview Jay Holcomb, Director of IBRRC Bird Cleaning Operation. Jay expects to remain on the ground a few more weeks, as they receive only one oiled bird per day now. Teams able to first explore rookeries, now that fragile eggs have hatched and nesting season is over, find more dead birds than live ones.
Aug 22-31, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
We Find An Oiled Pelican And Dead Dolphin During Boat Tour
SUBMITTED BY: Brenda Shoss, Executive Director, Kinship Circle
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Terrebonne (Parish) Bay Off Chauvin, Louisiana
Read local wildlife photographer Darlene Eschete gripping account of our inspection of barrier islands along Terrebonne Parish, as published for a CNN iReport
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/27/10: Kinship Circle’s Rachel Laskowski arranges a charter boat out of Chauvin, LA into Terrebonne Bay. On board are Kinship Circle Executive Director Brenda Shoss and her husband Grady, local wildlife photographer Darlene Eschete, and Kinship Circle members Sarah Rose, Colleen Kessler and husband Gary, Craig Hill, Mary Kelly, and Cadi Schiffer. Dark skies and rain send BP oil-boom boats back to shore, but we continue to Raccoon Island — one of Louisiana’s most heavily populated nesting areas. As we near the linear island’s east side, we spot the silhouette of a dolphin amid many pelicans. Her fins are vertical and still, but we coast in as close as possible to verify death. At 3:57pm, Brenda Shoss notifies Incident Command headquarters of this deceased dolphin’s GPS coordinates, and is directed to NOAA’s line for marine mammals. NOAA later phones to confirm the sighting and that the dolphin will be picked up for necropsy. All dead animals undergo analysis to determine the role of oil in their death.
We circle the island, also referred to as Coon Point, to view its west end. Hundreds of pelicans are aligned with choreographic precision. Behind them small white gulls stand in unison, their beaks pointed the same direction. Some birds flap wings and preen in shallow waters. We notice one pelican who flaps more vigorously than his peers. He can’t seem to rise from the water. Upon closer inspection, it’s clear that his wings are separated in clumps, a telltale sign of oil accumulation. Brenda again calls Unified Command authorities. This time, she is directed to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife voicemail, where she leaves GPS coordinates and a description of landmarks close to the distressed bird. The report is made, but USFW never confirms it.
Resident photographer Darlene Eschete, who is quite familiar with these waters near Houma, LA, guides our boat captain toward more small islands that earlier this summer were blanketed with nesting eggs. She wants to lead us to the isle where she'd photographed many dead Laughing Gulls. But a fierce storm moves in, propelling our boat like a roller coaster over choppy surf.
Aug 22-31, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Checking Out Bayou Swamps And More On Oiled Hermit Crabs
SUBMITTED BY: Fred Groeger and Jane Allen, Kinship Circle Team #6
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/26/10: We head west to explore the bayou, specifically Sherburne Wildlife Management, Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge and Bayou Des Ourses. The region is mostly swamp with a levee to the left and campgrounds. As we continue north through the refuge, we spot many turtles, a small rat snake, one young alligator and a broad-winged hawk. No oil is seen.
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel McKay Laskowski and Craig Hill, Kinship Circle Team #7
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Ocean Springs, Mississippi
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/26/10: An interview with Darcie J. Graham, M.S. Research Associate, depicts the crab collection process and detection of oil and dispersants in crabs. She is more forthcoming about the presence of oil in crab populations and says they work in conjunction with Tulane University's crab project in Grand Isle, LA. In another interview with wildlife rehab vet Dr. James M. Askew, of Threatened and Endangered Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation, we learn about a very large Kemp's Ridley turtle who cannot be released due to the oil disaster.
Aug 22-31, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Researchers See Decline In Whale Shark Sightings
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel McKay Laskowski and Craig Hill, Kinship Circle Team #7
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Ocean Springs, Mississippi
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/25/10: We visit Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, University of Southern Mississippi, to interview Jim Franks, Senior Research Scientist. As a large fish specialist, he worries about oil impact on the Blue Tuna. We also speak to Jill M. Hendon, Fisheries Biologist, about Whale Sharks that have been swimming in oil. She is concerned about the fate of these top feeders and notes that their numbers have decreased. Harriet Perry, Director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development, concedes off-camera that her legal staff advises her to not talk about oil and dispersants in crabs.
Aug 22-31, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Will Dispersants Kill Bacteria That Digests Oil?
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel McKay Laskowski and Craig Hill, Kinship Circle Team #7
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Panacea, Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/24/10: First stop is Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea, FL to meet with Victor Spencer for an in-depth tour. We interview him about a Kemp's Ridley turtle with bacteria decay. This turtle with a disintegrating shell was found at an unusual location in August. Pollution triggered the bacteria that killed him and Victor feels the oil and dispersants may be a root cause. We discuss tests for water contamination, including university studies that show dispersants are killing plankton. Victor asks: Will dispersants also kill the bacteria that digest oil (bioremediation)?
Aug 22-31, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Oily Strands In Water; Now More Dead Oil Birds Than Live Ones
SUBMITTED BY: Fred Groeger and Jane Allen, Kinship Circle Team #6
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Venice, Louisiana and Hammond, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/23/10: Kinship Circle's Fred Groeger embeds with Chris Pincetich of Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP) on two boats leaving Venice, LA. At 39 miles out in Gulf waters, divers on boat #1 jump overboard in wet suits while Chris snorkels near an oilrig. Chris and Scott Procter return with coral samples to assess at a lab. Divers report two black tip sharks, one Kemp's Ridley turtle, a large redfish, and many smaller fishes. They note that fish numbers, for this area, are down.
Experienced diver Deb Castellana, of Bluewater, refuses to enter the water because she doesn't “like the look of it.” At one spot, the water is a dark olive green rather than its normal blue-green. Divers say stringy strands hang in the water — like “swimming through chicken soup.” On our return to Venice, we stop three times to observe naturally occurring “foam fractation” flecked with brown spots and oily brown strands believed to be oil. Both boats gather foam samples for analysis and we record GPS coordinates... During our exploratory tour, we see no sign of U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Coast Guard or BP.
Meanwhile, Kinship Circle's Jane Allen heads to Hammond, LA to tour International Bird Rescue Research Center. A bird with “old oil” is used to demonstrate the washing process. IBRRC Executive Director Jay Holcomb says older oil never completely comes off. Many “old oiled birds” are now brought in from rookeries where earlier rescue attempts would have caused extensive damage to un-hatched eggs. Delayed captures have resulted in extraction of dead and live birds... IBBRC sees roughly 4-5 oiled birds daily, mostly fledglings, with 10 oiled birds in house. A total 220 birds are on-site, compared to over 500 birds (150 laughing gulls, young pelicans and spoonbills) two weeks ago. Oiled birds are stabilized, cleaned and released in Florida, Georgia and Texas.
Aug 22-31, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Turtles, Dolphins, And Beach Cleanups
SUBMITTED BY: Fred Groeger and Jane Allen, Kinship Circle Team #6
LOCATION: REGION #1 — New Orleans, Louisiana and Waveland, Mississippi
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/22/10: We visit Audubon Aquarium where three rescued Kemp's Ridley sea turtles are on display. About 20 rescued turtles and one dolphin now reside at the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center on the Westbank in New Orleans. We then travel to Waveland, Mississippi to meet Chris Pincetich of Sea Turtle Restoration Project. Chris attempts to dig for oil reportedly three feet down in the beach sand. At 18" he finds no sign of oil. AEOTGE volunteers then drive several miles along the shore, photographing portable lights set at intervals of several hundred yards. Beach cleaners work under these lights at night, to avoid daytime heat.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
Aug 7-20, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
3,000 Dead Laughing Gulls. Why Doesn't The Public Know?
SUBMITTED BY: Fred Groeger and Jane Allen, Kinship Circle Team #6
LOCATION: REGION #1 — LA: Grand Isle, Mangrove Isle, Bay Jimmy, Queen Bess Isle
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 8/20/10: We depart early a.m. for a USFWS boat trip to heavily oil harmed areas off Grand Isle. Our first stop is Mangrove Island, a large rookery for pelicans and other sea birds. Earlier, Kinship Circle volunteers Esther Regelson and Darla Wolak spotted an oiled Roseate Spoonbill here, clinging to a boom to keep from drowning. Rescued that day, we are happy to report this spoonbill's recent release.
This Gulf of Mexico Laughing Gull is photographed at Fort De Soto Park, Pinellas County, FL. A WA2S.org/Kinship Circle team learns that 3,000 laughing gulls are dead from oil repercussions — yet this huge death toll is mostly unknown to the public.
PHOTO SOURCE
Oil booms still encircle Mangrove Island. Our boats are not permitted inside. From a vantage point about 50 yards offshore, hundreds of pelicans are seen flying and perched atop booms. Though nesting season is nearly over, we spy a few unfledged birds. Oil residue stains the mangrove roots. While there, a BP-affiliated Great Britain crew interviews USFW biologist Rick Hanson. The British crew also questions Louisiana Fish and Wildlife biologist Keith Cascio. We record both interviews and later inquire about the number of oiled pelicans found. Biologist Cascio says, “I don't like to talk about the dead animals, but we have found 3,000 dead laughing gulls.” We get no further details about these deaths.
In June WA2s.org/Kinship Circle volunteer Rachel Laskowski photographed hundreds of Royal Terns and their babies along the oiled perimeter of Queen Bess Island. The tiny yellow chicks were stained brown with oil. Sadly, American Birding Association Conservation Director Drew Wheelan informs us that all these babies have since died. PHOTO (C) WA2S.ORG/KINSHIP CIRCLE
Our next stop is Bay Jimmy, a grassy marshland. Oil booms are lodged well within the marsh, crushing grasses and creating a HAZMAT dilemma for their removal. Rick Hanson reports that no viable tactic is known to remove booms without causing more damage. An experimental method, in conjunction with BP, begins within days. Once booms are gone, contaminated soil must be removed. No one knows what material will replace depleted soil. Our final destination is Queen Bess Island. Like Mangrove, oil booms encompass this huge pelican rookery. All areas visited today have oil-stained shorelines.
Aug 7-20, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Deepwater Rig Is “Dead, Dead, Dead.” What About Animals?
SUBMITTED BY: Fred Groeger and Jane Allen, Kinship Circle Team #6
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Venice, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/19/10: We attend a press conference with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. A boat tour will visit restored parts of Delta National Wildlife Refuge — 49,000 acres with imperiled species such as the American alligator, brown pelican and Arctic peregrine falcon — closed to the public since April. Once there we're told only “pooled press” may join Sec. Salazar in the refuge. The restriction strikes us as odd since ALL EYES ON THE GULF has been in the field identified as documentarians for months. We stay to film the news briefing, which includes NOAA Administrator Jane Lobchenco and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. Sec. Salazar declares that “we're nearing the end of Chapter One of this disaster.” Over the next 10-15 days, the Deepwater Horizon rig will be “dead, dead, dead.” Chapter Two will cover cleanup and restoration. EPA's Lisa Jackson delivers a personal message about her own heritage as a third-generation Louisianan. NOAA's Jane Lebchenco speaks briefly about the future, touching more upon restoration.
Aug 7-20, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Oil Disaster Is Good News If You Are A Shrimp!
SUBMITTED BY: Fred Groeger and Jane Allen, Kinship Circle Team #6
LOCATION: REGION #1 — In Louisiana: Venice, Belle Chasse, Port Sulfur, Bura
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/18/10: LA Route 23 leads us south to Venice. First, we stop by Plaquemines Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in Belle Chasse for a tour with Jacob Stroman. The tiny rescue — housing 20 dogs and 80 cats — moves to larger digs in September. PAWS can only verify two surrenders related to the oil disaster. Both unemployed residents relinquished animals. Mr. Stroman notes a dramatic rise in animal drop-offs since the spill, but can't confirm cause... We next visit Myrtle Grove Marina, Port Sulfur. A lone “shrimper” no longer “shrimps,” because he cannot sell his catches. Local fishermen show us a catch they have no qualms about ingesting. We interview a local resident, off the record, about his "unofficial" test of Evolve, a natural cleaning agent... Our next stop at Joshuas Marina in Buras, LA reveals many shrimp boats, grounded by the oil.
Aug 7-20, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Where Did All That Oil Go?
SUBMITTED BY: Fred Groeger and Jane Allen, Kinship Circle Team #6
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Ocean City, Mississippi
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/16/10: A startling YouTube video prompts our eastbound drive to verify images of “oil pouring out of the bayou.” We find the video locale, but no oil except a light sheen on the water. Coast Guard personnel define the sheen as naturally occurring and mention "a few small tar balls" on another beach to the east. We survey a long beach stretch and photograph one dead sea bird. We spot just four dead crabs and many more dead jellyfish. One heron perches on a fishing pier. There are no people in sight.
We head west to Davis Bayou Gulf Islands National Seashore. A ranger tells us she suspects the oil is behind sparse tourism. But they've seen no oil for weeks. We proceed to Institute for Marine Mammal Studies for a tour with Delphine Vanderpool, M.D. During the Institute's first week, mostly dead turtles arrive. Since July, about 35-40 hooked turtles, from pier fishermen, are examined. Normally they see just 1-2 hooked turtles per year.
Oiled green turtles, a hooked hawksbill, and an oiled loggerhead are in rehab here. The oiled turtles are from Alabama. The young hawksbill is not recovering well. Today, however, he consumes some food. The loggerhead turtle, 2-3 years old, was found clinging to a buoy. They are concerned about changes in his blood work. Two weeks earlier, a 50-70 year old loggerhead was admitted. The 200+ pound female comes from the Mississippi Sound area. Sharks have mutilated three of her flippers, leaving her unable to survive in the wild. IMMS hopes to establish a fund to build a permanent pool for her... A dead dolphin recorded by WA2S/Kinship Circle Team #2 is necropsied here. No abnormalities are detected, but tissue samples at a government lab are not yet analyzed.
Aug 7-20, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Most Agree That Long-Term Oil Impacts Are Unknown
SUBMITTED BY: Dennis Pickersgill and Jua-Lezza Ayala. Kinship Circle, Team #5
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/11/10: We meet with Public Involvement Coordinator Mel Landry at the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program. At Nicolls State University, next door, Landry stores supplies for wildlife. Donations are received at Grand Isle. Items and monetary support go to Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries. An EPA grant funds Landry's initiative, not BP. In part, the program operates as a 501c3 nonprofit that can accept donations from civilians and corporations. We ask Landry about his overview of the oil disaster. He reports a reduction in cleanup equipment, but says wildlife efforts are still underway. He backs the general consensus that long-term oil impacts are unknown and that a nationwide response will endure for some time.
Aug 7-20, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Three Oil Disasters: Shorelines, Waterways, Deep Waters
SUBMITTED BY: Dennis Pickersgill and Jua-Lezza Ayala. Kinship Circle, Team #5
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/10/10: We meet with P.J. Hahn, Director of Coastal Management in Plaquemines Parish, who is unable to give us a formal interview. He wants permission from parish president Billy Nungesser, but agrees to speak off the record. He shows us video and photos that span early-stage oil relief to the present. Despite a government/BP rosy picture, Hahn believes that dangerous oil lurks underneath waters and beach sands. He shares disturbing footage of black ooze bubbling from a crab hole that his colleague has stepped on. We suggest Hahn revisit these spots for a then/now type comparison.
Upon leaving, we bump into Oky Flemming, inventor of the “Oilevator” device that extracts oil below surface levels. He assures us his device is marine-life safe. BP has yet to connect with him, even though below-surface oil removal has no set regimen. Later we meet with Samantha, a marine biologist, and Deb — both from Ocean Blue — at the Astor hotel. They've viewed oil from the skies and stress a perspective we've not heard before. There are three different oil spills: One occurs on shorelines, another in open waters. The third takes place in deep dark waters. From a scientific stance, Samantha says finned fish will survive. But filter feeders such as oysters, shrimps, and crabs share an uncertain future. Oysters will need years of restoration that Samantha thinks BP should fund.
Aug 7-20, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
1,415 Birds Recover At Hammond Wildlife Rehab Center
SUBMITTED BY: Dennis Pickersgill and Jua-Lezza Ayala. Kinship Circle, Team #5
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Hammond Wildlife Rehab Center in Hammond, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/9/10: Today's tour at Hammond Wildlife Rehab Center reveals ample space and equipment for wildlife recovery. Oil impacted birds are received daily. Yesterday's intake of 20 birds brings Hammond's present total to 400, with several ready for release. To date this center has rehabilitated 1,415 birds, mainly pelicans and laughing gulls. They also take in turtles and other bird species. No cleaned birds have returned for round two, which suggests oil cleanup is working (or smart birds vacated the neighborhood for good!) We observe pelican washing — a skill for qualified experts only because it is extremely stressful for animals. A BP rep is always on hand. So far, there have been no problems negotiating supply needs for a safe, humane wildlife recovery effort.
Aug 7-20, 2010: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Citizens, Officials Gather For Gulf Strategic Planning Conference
SUBMITTED BY: Dennis Pickersgill and Jua-Lezza Ayala. Kinship Circle, Team #5
LOCATION: REGION #1 — New Orleans, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/7/10: We attend the “Gulf Strategic Planning Conference” at the New Orleans Sheraton, where Todd Baker, Program Manager of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Coastal Operations, is among speakers. We also hear from Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, U.S. Coast Guard rep Claudia Gelze, and Jefferson Parish Council Chairman John Young. All agree they're doing optimal cleanup, given the power allotted each to take action. All concur that BP be held accountable for the long haul. Inevitable long-term effects are still unknown. A concluding panel gives participants a chance to ask questions and brainstorm future steps in this man-made disaster — for example, more efficient clean up using state-of-the-art equipment.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
8/3-8/6/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
NOAA Finds Loggerhead Turtle With Disintegrated Fins
SUBMITTED BY: Dennis Pickersgill, Jua-Lezza Ayala, Kinship Circle, Team #5
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Gulf Breezes, Florida; Gulf Shores, Alabama
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/6/10: Today we tour the Institute For Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi. Our tour guide, Meagan Broadway, says this facility has not received any live, beached dolphins, but has taken in 15 dead ones. They have not yet determined if the oil disaster is behind the rise in dolphin deaths. An increasing number of turtles, on the other hand, come in alive or dead as a result of the oil. Many are injured or killed in fishing lines. Dr. Delphine Vanderpool believes the turtles' perilous environment propels them inland, often in the direct path of fisherman. NOAA recently delivered a large Loggerhead Turtle with her fins nearly gone. She was rescued about 16 miles from Dolphin Island and no one knows how her fins disintegrated. Without them, she can barely swim.
8/3-8/6/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
“The Dolphin Lady” Tracks Oil In Calves And Pregnant Moms
SUBMITTED BY: Dennis Pickersgill, Jua-Lezza Ayala, Kinship Circle, Team #5
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Gulfport, Mississippi
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/5/10: Our day opens with a three-hour drive to Orange Beach, AL to meet with Lori Deangelis, a.k.a. "The Dolphin Lady." She is a vast storehouse of information on local dolphins. We embark on a two-hour cruise in the Back Bay Waters and stop by her favorite dolphin spots. Lori is concerned about long-term effects of oil on calves and pregnant moms. She's already seen evidence of harm in their glandular areas. We advise her to document every dolphin abnormality she sees.
Next, we visit Theodore Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Theodore, AL as part of a media event sponsored by USFW. The Center is equipped with state-of-the-art resources to handle numerous birds and other species. We view the delicate and time-consuming cleaning process for several birds. An enormous amount of training is required to handle oiled animals. We learn details about each rehab station and gain a clearer picture of what these animals endure before they are detoxified and ready for release. Right now, some 30 to 40 birds in various stages of recovery inhabit the Center.
8/3-8/6/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Fledglings Sometimes Near The Boats, As If Asking For Help
SUBMITTED BY: Dennis Pickersgill, Jua-Lezza Ayala, Kinship Circle, Team #5
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Barrier Islands Off Grand Isle, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/4/10: We leave New Orleans for Grand Isle, LA to embed on a charter boat with Tom McKenzie of Louisiana Fish And Wildlife. We journey through small barrier islands that comprise habitat for birds. We notice a mass effort to clean and absorb oil, complete with floating hotels for workers. A 36-inch pipe sucks up oil. Still, rusty brown oil stains boat hulls. Hospital Island is oil polluted, but no birds are present. Oil absorbing buoys prevent us from a closer look. We are shocked by the absence of birds here. Other islands are covered with birds. Do the birds know that Hospital Island is contaminated?
According to Jared, with Louisiana Fish And Wildlife, fledglings sometimes approach boats as if asking for help. He's rescued 72 birds while stationed here. Our guides tell us that cleanup work has improved, even though much more toil is needed. Additionally, wildlife also risk harm from rescuers themselves — who inadvertently disturb habitats or cause younger-generation animals to become over-acclimated to humans. Life's balance is fragile here, and will need a lot more time to heal.
8/3-8/6/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Ingested Oil Climbs The Food Chain
SUBMITTED BY: Dennis Pickersgill, Jua-Lezza Ayala, Kinship Circle, Team #5
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Grand Isle, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 8/3/10: We revisit Grand Isle, LA for a follow-up interview with Shae Craine, a Tulane University grad student studying crab and shrimp larvae. Shae sets traps for larvae by day, since they travel at night, and ferries captured larvae to a lab. "Blobby" larvae have oil in their bodies that resembles orange blobs. Oil is present in juvenile crabs too. This new study has not yet assessed long-term damage. We help Shae reset traps before heading to a lab at the Louisiana Fish And Wildlife... Larvae live at the bottom of the food chain. Concern deepens about oil climbing up the chain. If shrimp and crab survive with ingested oil — marine mammals and ultimately humans will be affected.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
7/26-7/28/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Large Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Is Dead On Key Largo Shores
SUBMITTED BY: Darla J. Wolak, Kinship Circle
LOCATION: REGION #3 — Key Largo, in South Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 7/28/10: At about 1:00pm, Marine Mammal Conservancy (MMC), a wildlife/rehab center in Key Largo, Florida, receives a call from U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFW) regarding a deceased dolphin. With MMC responders on alert, a boat is deployed to retrieve the animal and a necropsy is scheduled. As a previously trained volunteer with MMC, Kinship Circle's Darla Wolak is able to participate in the event.
By 2:00pm, MMC's director recovers a dead Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin. The dolphin, whose organs are exposed, shows evidence of a shark attack. It takes four strong men and a towrope to haul the 6-foot dolphin ashore and hoist him onto a truck-bed for transfer to the necropsy area. Throughout this Level 3 recovery, everyone (including myself) uses Vicks menthol rub to mask the overpowering smell of decomposition.
The MMC director doesn't feel the animal's death is oil-related. Still, all marine mammal deaths in the Gulf are now tested for influence of oil. A necropsy begins with the dolphin's measurements, followed by photographs. His wounds and internal organs are examined. Life history samples, along with minor toxicology tests, are collected and preserved. Specimens for PCH are disregarded because the dolphin shows no signs of oil impact. Finally, the carcass is disposed. PHOTO: Darla Wolak, Kinship Circle
Preliminary necropsy results reveal parasites in the animal's lungs — highly unusual for in-shore animals. These results suggest that death is linked to the parasites and that the shark attack occurred post-mortem. Sample analysis will determine final conclusions.
7/26-7/28/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Life Proceeds, Cautiously, In The Florida Keys
SUBMITTED BY: Darla J. Wolak, Kinship Circle
LOCATION: REGION #3 — Key Largo, in South Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/26/10: “Clean! No oil! No sheen or crude! Not a tar ball in sight!” As a South Floridian resident, Kinship Circle's Darla Wolak is relieved that oil hasn't seeped into the Loop Current for a ride into the Florida Keys. This area, teeming with exotic wildlife and tourism, could have been devastated. Instead, as Darla observes aboard a snorkeling boat five miles out from Key Largo, boats are without brown oiled bottoms and waters are free of "peanut butter looking" poison. Waves roll in with whitecaps and no oil rainbows reflect off clean waters. Reefs and marine life are unscathed. Upon return, the boat's captain asks Darla what she'd seen as a Kinship Circle volunteer for the ALL EYES ON THE GULF expedition. He is concerned by Darla's images of polluted shorelines and oiled wildlife. He knows this: If oil reaches the Florida Keys, his business is done. The livelihood of fellow residents is over. For now, life proceeds, cautiously.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
7/23-7/24/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Saving Rare Sea Turtles From America's Largest Oil Spill Ever
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Truitt and Shawndra Michell, Kinship Circle Team #4
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Destin, Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/24/10: We travel from Destin to Alys Beach, FL to interview Jennifer Kuntz and Arix Zalace — Santa Rosa, FL activists raising awareness on clean energy, oil dependence, and oil damage to Florida's sea turtles. We learn that Jennifer works with Reclaim Our America, a Santa Rosa, FL nonprofit with a three-fold mission:
1) Advocate for BP transparency via change in management; 2) Prepare for future disasters and cessation of unmanageable corporate risks, including closure of questionable fossil fuels collection/exploration; 3) Immediate energy reform in 2010.
Jennifer reveals her sadness, disappointment and fear about the oil disaster. She's stopped swimming in the Gulf with her dogs. Her customers complain about respiratory illness, vomiting blood, diarrhea, sore throats, and "strange" sinus problems.
Photo: Ridley's Kemp Sea Turtle Nest Relocation. Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida. National Park Service
Our second interviewee, Arix Zalace, is co-owner of Turtle Safe Products, a Santa Rosa Beach, FL nonprofit that: 1) Educates the public about sea turtles and effects of lighting on them; and 2) Offers products designed to safeguard nesting grounds from light pollution, such as flashlight filters. BP now uses Turtle Safe Products filters in cleanup endeavors.
When Florida tourists walk beaches with flashlights, the illumination adversely effects turtle nests. Turtle Safe Products have a flashlight that filters out wavelengths of the visible light spectrum. Harmful beach lighting can force a female sea turtle to abandon her nest. It can also prevent hatchlings from safely reaching water.
7/23-7/24/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
89 Endangered Sea Turtle Eggs Are Moved From Path Of Oil
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Truitt and Shawndra Michell, Kinship Circle Team #4
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Gulf Breezes, Florida; Gulf Shores, Alabama
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/23/10: Today we document the excavation and relocation of 89 Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle eggs at Gulf Islands National Seashore, Fort Pickens Area. Anne Callenia and other U.S. Parks and Recreation employees meet with our team, press, and citizens there to witness the excavation.
Gulf Islands National Seashore is home to six sea turtle nests. The nest under excavation today is located between Lots 21 and 22. Turtles mass nest (arribada) during the day. Habitat loss from human disturbance is the most common threat to endangered Kemp's Ridley Turtles. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle, Gulf Coast 2010
At the excavation site, key staff include: Nina Kelson, Acting Superintendent of U.S. Parks and Recreation Department; Rick Clark, Science and Resources Management; Lorna Patrick, USFWS Sea Turtle Biologist; LTC. Louis Roberson, Regional Director of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Mark Nicholas, District Biologist with Gulf Islands National Seashore; and Lisa M. McInnis, NPS Resource Adisor.
ALL EYES ON THE GULF Expedition, 7/23/10: Kinship Circle volunteers Brian Truitt and Shawndra Michell, as part of AEOTGE, embed with the National Park Service in Florida for turtle nest relocation. Eighty-nine endangered sea turtle eggs, like the one above, are removed from the oil's deadly path. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle, Gulf Coast 2010
Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle, Gulf Coast 2010
The excavation begins at 5:00 pm. For the next 25 minutes, excavation staff delicately gather golf-ball size eggs from nests, to lay them in Styrofoam coolers filled with sand from the nesting area. The coolers, cushioned with shock absorbing pallets, are transported to Cape Canaveral in a climate-controlled tractor-trailer. Upon arrival, the eggs are stored in a temperature-regulated warehouse on Kennedy Space Center grounds until they hatch. BP has spent more than $3 million on Gulf Coast sea turtle relocation.
After the excavation we return to Gulf Chores, AL, where a beach walk reveals more oil pollution. As the tide recedes, dark brown sheen remains. Oil balls litter beaches. No people enter the water. Seashells, crabs, seaweed and other life forms are absent. Kinship's Shawndra Michell has experienced headaches, nausea, nosebleeds and fatigue — during most of our deployment — and agrees to let Brian Truitt film her... Driving west on Highway 182, we find a BP dumping zone where workers bag tar balls and other oil waste for mass burial in a landfill. They work without safety equipment or respirators.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
7/21-7/22/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Rescued Birds, Tar-Ball Mounds, And Millions Of Dead Fish
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Truitt and Shawndra Michell, Kinship Circle Team #4
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Theodore, AL; Gulfport, MS; Gulf Springs, AL
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/22/10: Our day opens with an at Theodore Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Prior to a tour here, we interview National Geographic television producer Charlie Miller. He discusses the public's lagging interest in the Gulf disaster.
John Schmerfeld — an adjunct biology professor, coral reef researcher, toxic tort litigation consultant, and conservation biologist — speaks about toxic impacts on wildlife. Theodore Center's Michelle Bellizi next reviews daily operations here. Dr. Heidi Stout, Executive Director of Tri-State Bird Search and Rescue, updates us on current rescue attempts. Ashantye Williams, with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, briefs everyone on USFWS collaborative efforts. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle, Gulf Coast 2010
Wildlife Ops Branch Chief (Mobile Sector) Ken Rice begins the Theodore Center tour with an explanation of three focus areas:
1) Oil impact on sensitive lands (federal lands, barrier islands).
2) Oil effects and response to soiled wildlife.
3) Continuing development of rehabilitation centers.
During the tour, we record the delicate cleaning process of an oiled Laughing Gull. Two employees repeatedly wash and rinse the bird in a ten-minute (or longer) session. The staff believes this bird will survive. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle, Gulf Coast 2010
Per USFWS daily consolidated reports, as of July 22, 2010:
BIRDS Collected Alive: 1397 / Collected Dead: 2599 / Released: 551
TURTLES Collected Alive: 226 / Collected Dead: 483 / Released: 177
MAMMALS Collected Alive: 5 / Collected Dead: 62 / Released: 1
OTHER REPTILES Collected Alive: 1 / Collected Dead: 1 / Released: 0
Kinship Circle's Shawndra Michell and Brian Truit, as part of AEOTGE, document oiled bird cleanings at Theodore Wildlife Rehab Center in Theodore, AL. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle, Gulf Coast 2010
Another USFWS chart shows current rescue patrols in the Gulf:
BIRD TEAM:
Two rescue patrols per day. In one day, 61 birds are rescued.
353 Personnel
96 Boats (with crews of two to three people)
5 Helicopters
3 Planes
TURTLE TEAM:
Two rescue patrols per day. A record day is 14 rescued turtles.
12 Personnel
3 Boats
We leave Theodore, AL for Gulfport, MS to investigate reports about Millions Of Fish Wash Ashore in Jones Park, a public park presently under renovation. A municipal employee tells us that BP disposed of all fish shortly after they appeared. People are eerily reticent to talk about the mass death. Gulfport's coast is now a deep, chocolate brown color.
Our day concludes in Gulf Shores, AL. Since Kinship Circle volunteer Brian Truitt's arrival on July 19, 2010, oil balls litter beaches here, as far as the eye can see. Accumulated tar balls morph into oddly shaped mounds, dispersed around tire tracks from BP's sand-moving behemoths (which seem to be everywhere). The texture and composition of oil balls are indescribable — sort of like deep-fried seaweed shellacked in stiff molasses.
7/21-7/22/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
BP Employees — Muzzled And Scripted
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Truitt and Shawndra Michell, Kinship Circle Team #4
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Grand Isle, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/21/10: From New Orleans, Team #4 travels to Grand Isle to document cleanup and interview BP employees. But they either won't talk or their words sound scripted. Hard-hit Grand Isle is divided into 14 restoration zones, each with a different task-objective. We ask a BP employee about activities underway at some zones, but he replies, "No one really knows."
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
7/10/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
A Keen Eye For Oiled Wildlife Saves Two Pelicans
SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Shurtz, with WA2S.org Executive Director Tom McPhee
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Pass Christian and Gulf Port, in Mississippi; Daphne, Alabama
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/10/10: We leave for Pass Christian and Gulf Port, MS. While driving, we stop to explore multiple shorelines...discovering a lot of tar balls and crude oil. Jon observes two oiled pelicans. He immediately calls Unified Command authorities to relay the birds' GPS coordinates. Our report is later confirmed by a return call. We are told the oiled pelicans have been collected and transported to the IBRCC bird cleaning operation. Kinship Circle and World Animal Awareness Society are thanked for our ongoing effort to spot and report oiled wildlife. We continue towards Daphne, AL where beaches seem cleaner than the heavily polluted Grand Isle, LA shore. However, a strong oil odor saturates the air.
Currently, only U.S. Fish And Wildlife and BP-authorized state/federal wildlife personnel are permitted to rescue oiled animals. We comb waterways and islands off oil-affected shores. As spotters we have helped save lives by reporting oiled animals. The video above depicts the rescue of a severely oiled bird.
7/2/10: While investigating Black Mangrove Island, LA, Kinship Circle's Esther Regelson and Darla Wolak spot a juvenile Roseate Spoonbill. The severely oiled bird fights to stay atop an oil boom. The sighting is called in, but our boat captain cannot bear to watch this bird nearly drown. So the bird is caught, brought to emergency triage, and then transferred to IBRRC Fort Jackson Rehabilitation Center. During one of our regular visits to IBRRC, we learn that this bird will live.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
7/5/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Dead Dolphin, Possibly Pregnant, Ashore In Mississippi
SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Shurtz, with WA2S.org Film Director Tom McPhee
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Pass Christian, Mississippi
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/5/10: Film Director Tom McPhee and I rise early to interview Alan Schwartz, Large Transport Operator for Sumter County, FL Disaster Animal Response Team. He has a 45-foot climate-controlled truck designed for animal transport. The vehicle has space for surgeries and can serve as temp housing. He is here should a large number of birds need transport from rehab to the airport for release.
Next, we explore the Mississippi coastline. There, I photograph tar balls and dead fish, along with a lot of post-July 4th trash. Dispersant residue is evident as well. We interview cleaning crews and several locals. While driving along the shoreline at Pass Christian beach, we observe a waterside truck with several people in masks holding a tarp. Tom asks me to quickly investigate. At the scene, I see the carcass of a large (roughly 100km) female bottlenose dolphin. I videotape volunteers weighing the dead dolphin and running tests to discern if she was pregnant when she died. She is abnormally large and appears healthy — except for oil residue around her mouth.
Meanwhile, Tom interviews Dr. Delphine Vanderpool, M.D., Assistant Director of Research with the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies. She is on site to remove the dolphin carcass with a dozen volunteers.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
7/2/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Heavily Oiled Birds, One Escapes USFW, Another Is Rescued
SUBMITTED BY: Esther Regelson, Darla Wolak Kinship Circle Team #2
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Grand Isle USFW Boat, In Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/2/10: We explore Grand Isle State Park for evidence of oil. Whitecaps on the water are tinted yellow, a telltale sign of oil. A photographer we meet shows us a milky substance on shorelines that he believes is dispersant. He also confirms that black "turds" washed ashore are tar balls. Booms line the beach, along with a newly created sand barrier between booms and marsh grasses.
At the marina, we meet Alan Crabbe of Fish And Wildlife Service. Our team and other photographers boat out around 11:00am, first arriving at Queen Bess Island. We next see Black Mangrove Island, a rookery filled with myriad seabirds and their young. We notice many pelicans with various levels of oil on their bodies. A fragmented boom on the far side of the island has floated ashore, encroaching on wildlife and their nests. The closer we get, the more oiled birds we see. USFW crew steer the boat to facilitate capture of a heavily oiled pelican. But the leaping bird escapes their grasp. A second circle of the island reveals a Roseate Spoonbill struggling at the boom. The severely oiled bird is too weak to rise from the water. This time, USFW agents successfully rescue the bird.
BACK TO TOP OF FIELD NOTES — BP OIL SPILL HOME — PHOTO LOG
7/1/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Baby Birds Are Uncommonly Still In Their Nests
SUBMITTED BY: Esther Regelson, Darla Wolak Kinship Circle Team #2
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Venice and South Pass, both in Louisiana>
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 7/1/10: Kinship Circle's Esther Regelson and Darla Wolak meet at the Cypress Cove Marina in Venice, where USFW agent Bruce Miller informs us that the Coast Guard has granted permission for boats to go out despite inclement weather due to Hurricane Alex. Aboard a small boat, we move through the marsh, across the Mississippi, and into Dennis Pass to pick up USFW wildlife biologist David. Six boats journey through South Pass, before splitting into two groups.
Two hours later we tether our boats in the sand. Accompanied by four USFW agents, we cover three regions. Along the shore oil coagulates at the waterline. We join biologist David behind a long stretch of boom barrier that partially stops the sea from washing into the marsh. Two other USFW agents hike in the marshes, looking for oiled or dead birds. Scavengers drag dead bodies into these marshes to feed upon.
David says you can smell oil approaching the shore. You can see crude oil and sheen thickening on the seaside of the boom. We spot a scared Common Nighthawk startled from her nest in the sand. Kinship's Darla sees two chicks where the nighthawk had been. The babies are alive but uncommonly still. We document this odd behavior via video and stills. Nine pelicans fly overhead and at least two look oiled. A nearing storm forces USFW to cancel the rest of our tour. We boat back in a heavy downpour.
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6/30/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
In Open Gulf Waters, Aboard Tankers On Call For The Spill
SUBMITTED BY: Esther Regelson, Darla Wolak Kinship Circle Team #2
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Venice and South Pass, both in Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/30/10: We arrive at the Associated Bar Pilots' Office to meet James Flynn. By 10:15, we take a small boat to a tanker, where we climb a rope ladder to board. There, we wait to switch ships. With Jim Flynn as pilot, we head toward Southwest Pass. There is no clear evidence of oily water and no booms the entire length of Southwest Pass. Near the end of the pass, we see rough water spilling over jetties due to Hurricane Alex. Here, oil sheens are present. Open waters are too turbulent to detect oil. Another pilot escorts us from the tanker to the pilot station at the end of the pass, leaving minimal time to inspect the island. We do see oily grasses and shore. Jim scoops up grass that leaves oily residue on his hand. A pilot boat returns us to open water where we board a tanker with a Japanese crew. We observe porpoises swimming near the jetty, but no sign of oil. As we head back to the tanker, oil slicks become evident again. We leave on the pilot boat to visit what is left of Pilot Town — an area devastated in Hurricane Katrina. Marshes teem with spiders, birds, nutria...but no oil is seen.
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6/29/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Some Of The Rescue Effort Is Bound In Red Tape
SUBMITTED BY: Esther Regelson, Darla Wolak Kinship Circle Team #2
LOCATION: REGION #1 — New Orleans and New Iberia, both in Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/29/10: Kinship Circle's Darla Wolak and Esther Regelson are out the door by 5:30am, en route to the airport to document a pelican transport. By 7:00, a German documentarian group joins us, but no plane. Dr. Sharon Taylor informs us that we are only permitted to film from outside the gate. Esther asks Dr. Taylor for an interview, but she needs clearance from JIC. She then enters an adjacent building. AEOTGE team members follow the German crew inside, but are pushed out by Dr. Taylor because we are "not press." Esther calls Chris Tollefson from JIC, as he originally approved our visit, but cannot reach him. Darla phones WA2S film director Tom McPhee for backup. By this time, the transport is underway. We film it from beyond the fence.
At 11:00am we proceed out I-10 toward a town hall meeting in New Iberia. We drive in torrential rains, with some flooding and exit closings along the way. Once at town hall, we search out agency reps involved with cleanup and wildlife recovery. First, we interview Gary Shiganaka and his associates at NOAA about tortoise rescue. Darla asks if we can accompany NOAA by plane or boat and he explains that NOAA is finalizing protocols for media tours, particularly where overwhelmed turtle rescuers are. We also speak to Louisiana Wildlife And Fisheries Department, an EPA liaison, and another NOAA rep, Steve Gittings, who is optimistic in the face of the spill.
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6/28/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Birds Get Pepto Bismol To Soothe Distress From Oil Ingestion
SUBMITTED BY: Darla Wolak, Esther Regelson, Kinship Circle Team #2
LOCATION: REGION #1 — New Orleans, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/28/10: We return to IBRRC Bird Cleaning Operation to interview IBRRC director Jay Holcomb. We video oil decontamination cleaning on a "masked boobie" from start to finish. We also conduct a brief interview with IBRRC employee Rebecca that focuses on stress coping tools for animal rescuers in this disaster.While there, a new oiled tern arrives. We videotape the bird "mummy-wrapped" in a towel so that a veterinarian and several assistants can examine him. The bird is gavaged with a tubing syringe that administers Pepto Bismol directly into his stomach. The long tube is inserted via the bird's mouth so that Pepto Bismol can coat his stomach lining and provide relief from oil ingestion. We learn that authorized bird organizations are trying to determine how to handle fledglings, since they need to be weaned with adult pelicans.
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6/20-6/25/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
An Infinite Mess Adrift At Sea — Devouring Everything In Its Path
SUBMITTED BY: Darla Wolak with Esther Regelson, Byron Wilkes, Rachel Laskowski
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Copobrie, Louisiana and Houma, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/25/10: In Terrebonne Parish we embed with a Coast Guard boat to inspect barrier islands. Wildlife is scarce, due to hurricane destruction of animal habitat in past years. Our captain says over 25 islands have vanished. We record evidence of oil in marsh grasses and boats vacuuming oil. Containment booms circle the islands. Later, our team convenes at Houma Jet Center for a Coast Guard flight over the spill site with about 13 press members. During take-off, we see oil engulfing small islands. Further out, oil sheen sporadically reflects off water. Then thicker reddish-brown streams are evident. Oil streams swell at the line where water turns deep blue. Boat traffic increases as we near the site awash in dark crude oil. Two or three boats work a skimming system to collect oil globs on surface waters. Two fires burn from pipes at ships/stations.
PERSONAL REFLECTION FROM KINSHIP CIRCLE'S DARLA WOLAK: At the site, skimmers appear to collect oil by teaspoons, from a vast bathtub of oil. I am struck by the immensity of a job that can never be completed. To see this infinite mess adrift at sea — devouring everything in its path as it creeps toward land and more animals — is terrifying.
6/20-6/25/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Locals Tire Of Bureaucracy That Blocks Animal Rescue
SUBMITTED BY: Byron Wilkes, Esther Regelson, Rachel Laskowski, Team #2
LOCATION: REGION #1 — New Orleans, Louisiana and Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/21/10: We head to Fort Jackson and IBRRC Bird Cleaning. We film multiple sessions (i.e., 20-minute wash, rinse, wash, rinse and dry for each adult Brown Pelican). We are advised that nearly 700 birds (25 species) have come to this facility — including adult and juvenile Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls, larger seagulls, a variety of terns, and a rare Red Egret. As of 6/21/10, 97 birds have left the facility for other locations. Jay Holcomb, IBRRC director, says they know thousands more birds are oil impacted and that they expect numbers to rise drastically if weather worsens. Their current Fort Jackson location falls in the hurricane evacuation zone, so they plan to move within the next month.
Six wash stations are armed with hoses and powerful nozzles, multiple soap mixtures and rinsing agents, towels, cleaning solutions, and hundreds of Dawn soap bottles. Washbasins and cloths are drenched in oil. HAZMAT "tyvet" clothing, gloves and other materials worn by workers must be disposed at intervals. Replacement items continually enter this "production assembly line." Working round the clock, each shift is 20 minutes, followed by 40 minutes of rest due to dehydration concerns. Later we speak to PJ Hahn, Director of Coastal Zone Management in Plaquemines Parish. Parish management and residents are upset about overall damage to the coastal environment. PJ himself inspects every weekend. He says fish clearly swim in the oil. Tiny crabs make trails in the oil. Many birds are oiled too. He worries that current protocol is too restrictive and that Unified Command and IBRRC have rebuffed more trained rescuers. The bureaucracy and inability to access impacted areas frustrates everyone, he tells us.
6/20-6/25/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Team Follows Lead About Oil At Terrebonne Outer Isles
SUBMITTED BY: Byron Wilkes and Esther Regelson, Kinship Circle Team #2
LOCATION: REGION #1 — Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/20/10: Kinship Circle's Byron Wilkes and Esther Regelson head to Houma in Terrebonne Parish, LA to verify reports of oil penetration in outer small islands and grasslands. Several fishermen inform us that affected areas are about 20 miles off the tip of Cocodrie — a major marina on the Terrebonne coastline.
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REFLECTIONS FROM OUR VOLUNTEERS AT THE GULF DISASTER: The oil feels like a giant monster suffocating the Gulf Coast. Fishing boats skim oil to slow its relentless seep. Vessels are coated in a gooey red-brown film that eats through paint and corrodes hulls. The boats, like creatures around them, seem doomed. They wearily haul filthy oil booms...
Gulls who normally circle over fishing boats are gone. The area is silent and without movement. A handful of birds, driven by hunger, hover over one oily shrimp boat in anticipation of a bite. Finally, they fly away with empty stomachs. Brown Pelicans occasionally plummet into dark waters to search for food. They are oblivious to the deadly sheen. In some places oil is invisible when mixed with water, though a fine layer coats any creature who dives into it. For the pelicans, each dive paints their bodies in a new toxic layer. Eventually oil is so thick they are flightless.
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6/19/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Animals In Oil: Can Unified Command Rescue Them All?
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel Laskowski, Jon Shurtz, Tom McFee, Kevin McPhee
LOCATION: REGION #2 — Fort Morgan, Alabama and Destin, Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/19/10: Kinship Circle’s Rachel Laskowski and AEOTGE’s Jon Shurtz, along with Tom and son Kevin McPhee, drive to Fort Morgan, AL to explore Mobile Bay beach. Two dead birds are sited. Tom speaks to a father/son team with a camera mounted on a sky balloon. They are eager to have their baseline data uploaded to World Animal Awareness Society’s live map. Tom also engages EcoRigs.org, speaking to Steve Kolin about use of their underwater footage. When time to leave, we discover our vehicle is entrenched in sand. Nearby clean-up crews are not permitted to pull us out due to liability issues. Tom approaches a different contractor with a large beach-crawling rig. He is able to drag our car to level ground. We then travel as far as Destin, FL to interview Christopher Smith — a local who wants BP to purchase his brand of boom. Unfortunately, sea turtles won’t approach this type boom, so it is illegal to position it in front of beachside condos and homes. Mr. Smith informs us that tomorrow BP will meet residents at Orange Beach, AL who want to express ideas for circumventing the spill.
It has become clear that All Eyes On The Gulf must be
on the water to capture the truth and report oiled animals. To do so, we need our own boat. PLEASE
DONATE TOWARD PURCHASE OF AN AEOTGE BOAT & GEAR.
SUBMITTED BY: Byron Wilkes, Incident Command Kinship Circle Team #2
LOCATION: REGION #1 – Fort Morgan, Alabama and Destin, Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/19/10: Kinship's Byron Wilkes drives to Venice, LA to follow up on the turtle rescue operation with Captain Kevin Aderhold, who is under contract with BP to retrieve sea turtles near oil-burning waters. Capt. Aderhold is trying to get our AEOTGE teams aboard one of two boats that ferry Louisiana Fisheries & Wildlife scientists near the rescue site. Capt. Aderhold advises us to speak to Captain James (Brin) Hessemer at the dock, to find out what he’s seen. Highlights from our conversation include:
- BP Unified Command contracts two boats to charter Louisiana Fisheries and Wildlife staff into Gulf waters to observe oil flows and impact on animals.
- They travel within two miles of the oil burn-off site. BP and the Coast Guard use napalm and dispersants to break-up oil. The Coast Guard currently keeps all vessels over two miles away, but this may soon broaden due to toxicity of daily 10 square-mile burns.
- Capt. Hessemer believes that seismic cables will be installed to widen the restricted perimeter to block animals, boats or both. Burn areas shift each day, so communications must be clear and concise. He feels BP and the Coast Guard are working competently.
- Capt. Hessemer says the oil moves slowly to the north/northeast, in mild breezes and currents. He has seen one southward finger of oil roughly 25 miles off shore. If not cleaned, this oil strand will hit shore in several weeks.
- Oil is classified in three types:
- Thick black and red oil with about a half-inch density.
- Sheen: Oily surface cover.
- Dispersant Oil Balls: Pea-sized to golf ball sized clumps that float two feet below surface. They’ve seen just one large skimmer picking up oil about five miles outside main site, which is situated 54 miles offshore from Venice, Louisiana.
- Wildlife: Two boats have retrieved 64 juvenile Ripley turtles and missed three who dove underwater. Most turtles are recovered near BP oilrig VK989, some 15 miles from the main site and 30 to 40 miles from shore. Other turtles are captured near rig “ELF.”
- Turtles swim primarily North/Northwest of the site and convene on clean sea grass or seaweed that floats atop water and acts as a natural barrier for oil. Small crabs, seahorses and other turtle food sources also congregate on this sea grass or seaweed.
- Captain Hessemer says that a NOAA trailer had cleaned and transported turtles to the English Turn rehab facility. While NOAA handled the first 63 turtles, their trailer is now gone. Apparently an Animal Control Officer took yesterday’s juvenile turtle to the Fort Jackson rehab center. I later contact Fort Jackson, but am told the turtle is no longer there…but even if he were, I could not see him without Unified Command approval.
- Other species: Capt. Hessemer describes a large pod of Spinner Dolphins in clear waters northeast of the spill. He’s also spotted a pod of white dolphins swimming inside an oil encirclement. He is uncertain whether they can escape by diving beneath the oil.
- He’s seen colored ibis (long-legged birds) 25 miles offshore still wading in clean waters.
- Just beyond the sea grass/seaweed boundaries, many puffer fish, sargasum and blue runners swim. At the moment, several captured puffer fish are not oil coated.
Captains Hessemer and Aderhold welcome our presence on board with them and LA
Fisheries & Wildlife staff, but cannot make this decision without BP/Unified Command approval... I also speak to three more charter boat captains made inactive by the oil disaster. They are forced to travel over 100 miles to fish because normal fishing waters are closed. On a couple trips more than 140 miles at sea, they glimpse large tuna, chicken dolphins and mahi mahi. All seem to swim away from the oil (smart fishes!)
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KINSHIP CIRCLE AND AEOTG GULF TEAM #1, from lt to rt:
(back row) Documentary filmmaker Tom McPhee and his son Kevin; (front row) Kinship Circle IC Bonnie Morrison, Tania Velasco and Rachel Laskowski; Plaquemines Parish coastal director P.J. Hahn; Kinship Circle’s Cheri Deatsch and Sister Michael Marie; AEOTG’s Jon Shurtz. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle, Gulf Coast 2010
6/18/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Sea Turtles Need Rescue From Oil-Burning Waters
SUBMITTED BY: Bonnie Morrison, Sister Michael Marie, Byron Wilkes
LOCATION: REGION #1 – Headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/18/10: Jacob Stroman of PAWS Rescue in Belle Chasse, LA tells us this shelter does not see oil spill repercussions for companion animals. However, there is a push for pet food and pet food bank donations in Ft. Sulpher, LA. PAWS is a no-kill shelter with a waiting list. Animal guardians fluctuate from anger to pride or shame when relinquishing pets, so it is sometimes difficult to discern the real reason…
We follow up on a turtle rescue operation involving Kevin Aderhold, owner of Strike Zone Charters. He has five boats and is under contract with BP to conduct water rescue with Blair Witherington, a research scientist with Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservatory. Mr. Aderhold says they catch 1 to 11 oiled turtles daily. He is aware of 64 turtle rescues and two deaths over the last three weeks. The turtles are brought to English Turn Species Rehab Area in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. Kinship Circle's Byron Wilkes also speaks to Mr. Aderhold to clarify whether sea turtles are burned alive when they swim through oil burnoffs. The purpose of the rescue operation, he explains, is to divert them from fiery waters.
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6/17/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Dolphins Behaving Oddly, Impact On Family Animals
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel Laskowski and Jon Shutz, Kinship Circle Team #1
LOCATION: REGION #2 – Perdido Key and Holiday Harbor Marina, Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES. 6/17/10: Our first stop is Holiday Harbor Marina in Florida. We discuss the oil spill’s effect on sharks with local fishermen. Our next investigative site is Fort Pickens State Park Aquatic Preserve — to look for sharks usually seen on the shoals here. But, we do not see a single shark... Along the side of Pensacola Bay, we videotape workers installing boom. The Coast Guard warns us of an approaching storm, so we leave the area. On the drive back to the marina, we notice a pod of dolphins. We follow them for quite awhile, especially to observe the unusual behavior of three dolphins. They appear to be uncharacteristically mating at the surface of the water…
SUBMITTED BY: Bonnie Morrison, Kinship Team #1
LOCATION: REGION #1 – New Orleans, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES 6/17/10: PRESENT: Kinship Circle’s Randy Wheat, Sister Michael Marie, Bonnie Morrison. We interview Tessa Corthell, Jefferson Parish LASPCA Director, regarding the oil spill’s impact on economy and families with companion animals. The shelter is currently filled to capacity. We next tour Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO) in Harahan, LA and speak with the shelter manager. Kinship Circle’s Randy Wheat conducts a phone interview with ARNO Executive Director Charlotte Bass... Kinship Circle Mary Kelly arranges for AEOTGE to attend a shelter task force meeting. An attending member suggests that AEOTGE Director, Tom McPhee, set up a hotline or email for the public to report the spill’s economic effects on people and their animals.
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6/16/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Island Engulfed in Silence...The Absence Of Birds
SUBMITTED BY: Sister Michael Marie and Randy Wheat, Kinship Team #1
LOCATION: REGION #1 - Lafitte, Louisiana; Barataria Bay, Louisiana
OVERVIEW, 6/16/10: Our day begins with a Town Hall meeting with Mayor and council members of Lafitte, Louisiana. In addition to team members, others who accompany our boat excursion from Lafitte include: Mayor Timothy Kerner; Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts; Councilman at Large Tom Capella; Jefferson Parish Council Chief Of Staff Sonny Burman; Washingon Post Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Carol Guzy; local Fox 8 news team plus two other news teams; Lieutenant Commander Michael Heiser, US Coast Guard Liaison for the Parrish EOC; and Michael Melsheimer, Town of Jean Lafitte Photographer hired to document the effects of the oil spill on the town.
SITES AND ACTIVITIES: We leave Lafitte dock to go to Barataria Bayou, past Queen Bess Island (aka Pelican Island). There, team members record a FOX News interview with Mayor Kerner and shoot stills of birds in flight over the island. We stop at the Grand Isle Marina to interview Shae Crane, Mayor Kerner’s niece and a student of ecology and evolutionary biology. She is studying the oil spill’s effects on crab larvae and crab populations.
At 3:30pm, we dock our boat at an island in Bay Jimmy, about 25 miles from Lafitte. Eight feet of shoreline is smeared black and marsh grasses are all dead. The island is engulfed in a peculiar silence, marked by the absence of birds. An odor overcomes your senses, as if inhaling fumes from a gas pump. A barge, with two septic trucks on board, vacuums oil.
On our return to Lafitte, we pass a cleanup crew aboard a barge carrying dumpsters, a shade tent for workers, and a lifting crane. At least two-dozen airboats swarm the barge. Fishing boats, rendered useless by the BP spill, are loaded with clean boom coiled inside clear trash bags. They spread out new boom and collect oil-soaked boom to return to the barge. Some workers wear Tyvek suits with rubber boots and gloves.
SUBMITTED BY: Bonnie Morrison, Incident Command Kinship Circle Team #1
LOCATION: REGION #1 – New Orleans, Louisiana
OVERVIEW 6/16/10: Kinship Circle volunteer Darla Wolak alerts us to Key Largo Marine Mammal Conservatory — designated by Unified Command as the official morgue for oil-related animal carcasses. There are currently no animals at the facility… Today our attention turns to other victims of this disaster: Surrendered companion animals and their impact on overcrowded shelters. We begin to investigate how loss of livelihood (much like the mortgage crisis) leads to abandonment of domestic animals.
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6/15/10: World Animal Awareness Society and Kinship Circle
Investigations By Water, Air And Land
SUBMITTED BY: Sister Michael Marie, Cheri Deatsch, Kinship Circle Team #1
LOCATION: REGION #1 - Grand Isle, Louisiana
SITES AND ACTIVITIES: Sand Dollar Marina is desolate, other than a few sanitation workers who refuse to speak to us. A Jefferson Parish CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) trailer and Emergency Management Unified Command vehicle are visible behind a fence. We speak to a couple on Grand Isle’s north beach. The woman, a self-proclaimed “Crab Lady,” tells us that the oil has stopped her family’s tradition... We document a resident’s property along the north shore that is filled with nearly 100 two-foot high white crosses. Each cross bears the painted name of different fish, sea creatures, and water related activities now jeopardized by the mass spill.
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel Laskowski, Jonathan Shurtz, Kinship Circle Team #1
LOCATION: REGION #2 – Perdido Key, Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES: We head for the Holiday Harbor in Perdido Key, FL. Once on the water, we photograph/video Osprey nests near a marsh area southwest of Rabbit Island. We later spot dolphins near Kees Bayou toward the end of Inerarity Point. A Blue Heron is seen standing alongside a boom near the marsh at Inerarity Point. There, AEOTGE team members make contact with the Oceanic Preservation Society expedition…
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It has become clear that All Eyes On The Gulf must be
on the water to capture the truth AND report oiled animals. To do so, we need our own boat. PLEASE
DONATE TOWARD PURCHASE OF A AEOTGE BOAT & GEAR.
6/14/10: World Animal Awareness Society & Kinship Circle
Residents Worry Gulf Coast Will Become A Dead Zone
SUBMITTED BY: Bonnie Morrison, Kinship Team #1 Incident Commander
LOCATION: REGION #1 – Base Camp in New Orleans, Louisiana>
OVERVIEW: The day opens with a briefing at Mark and Mindy Steinway’s home, where team members stay during their tour. We divvy up assignments with film director Tom McPhee and Kinship Circle’s Sister Michael Marie assigned to the Mammal Refuse and the Gulf Shore area. Kinship’s Bonnie Morrison and Rachel Laskowski, along with independent marine biologist Jon Shurtz, will target the Sea Birds Sanctuary in Indian Shores, FL and attempt to document the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge.
Division of Team #1 into smaller breakout teams is discussed during a noon conference call between Kinship Circle president Brenda Shoss, WA2S.org founder/filmmaker Tom McPhee, and Kinship’s Incident Commander Bonnie Morrison. Our volunteer “spotters” will canvas oil affected areas across five states, to record and report distressed wildlife.
REGION #1: New Orleans, Jefferson Parish (Grand Isle); Plaquemines Parish (Venice, LA)
REGION #2: Coastline between Biloxi, Mississippi and Pensacola, Florida, Alabama
REGION #3: Southern tip of Florida coastline down to Florida Keys, Miami Beach, etc.
Kinship Circle Team #1 exits on 6/22/10, with some Team #2 members arriving 6/15 for cross training. In the field, teams are dispatched via assignment from Tom — who expresses enthusiasm for the project thus far. Our collection of striking photographic images leads to more and more resources for helping animals.
LOCATION: REGION #2 – Perdido Key Harbor, Florida
SITES AND ACTIVITIES, 6/14/10: A local couple suggests we investigate Orange Beach, an area overtaken by oil on 6/13/10. Around 3:00pm, we notice police stationed along Orange Beach Hwy 182. They inform us that President Obama is en route. We align with WKRG News 5 reporter Debbie Williams to watch the presidential brigade. Ms. Williams also directs us to many more oil-affected sites to check out:
- Ponsi Care Wildlife Rescue
- Gulf State Park (were the waters run black with the tide)
- Lake Shelby Nature Museum
- A turtle-nesting site that is under surveillance for oil repercussions
- Beach Mounts and Dolphin Island
- Gulf Coast Zoo (sheltering affected animals)
- Cotton Bayou (Orange Beach little lagoon, Robinson Island, Perdido Island, Cat Island)
- Sports Marina boom work
- Orange Beach Bridge drenched in oil
SUBMITTED BY: Sister Michael Marie, Kinship Circle Team #1
LOCATION: REGIONS #1 and #2 – New Orleans, LA and Pensacola Bay Area, FL
SITES AND ACTIVITIES: Tom McPhee and Sister leave Abita Springs for New Orleans, while Bonnie Morrison, Rachel Laskowski and Jon Shurtz go to Pensacola Bay. Our Region #1 group surveys the Audubon Species Survival Center on a forested peninsula off the Mississippi River. This facility conducts wildlife rehab, endangered species reproduction, and marine mammal rehab. Nearly 40 oiled turtles have come through so far. We join Region #2 team members in Pensacola to scout for oil-affected animals…
Thomas and Susan Bizzell of Pensacola offer to help procure boats and aircraft for wildlife assessment. The couple is distraught over physical and economic losses attributed to the oil. Tom feels that most residents believe the Gulf will evolve into a dead zone. The Bizzells say big network news stories are stale and incomplete. They are intrigued by the concept of our documentary and want to help record the reality of this tragedy…
Daphine, AL residents Robert and Joanne Reintz generously provide their home as a volunteer base. Joanne is very upset over oil that has already invaded Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. Sticky black fingers now reach into Mobile Bay as well. Joanne hopes word spreads about the true extent of damage…
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Help Save Lives By Supporting All Eyes On The Gulf
OIL SPILL RESPONSE FUNDING IS NEEDED FOR:
• RV/motor home for an All Eyes On The Gulf mobile command center
• BOAT + Hazmat/Tyvek suits, respirators, rubber boots
• Deployment of volunteer teams through August (or longer)
• Public messaging and media outreach
• Computers/communications overhead and equipment
• Fuel, food, lodging, tents
• AND MORE...
CLICK HERE TO DONATE SECURELY ONLINE
OR MAIL YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO:
Kinship Circle
7380 Kingsbury Blvd / St. Louis, MO 63130
ATN: BP Gulf Oil Spill
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Kinship Circle Animal Disaster Aid
Kinship Circle Animal Disaster Aid is a nonprofit that mobilizes volunteers, supplies and resources for animal victims through its network of trained responders in the U.S. and Canada. Kinship Circle works in agreement with government agencies or other NGOs to deploy teams of trained and credentialed animal responders for assessment, search and rescue, and emergency sheltering aid. We also report disaster news to inform the public about ways they can support animal aid efforts.
LEARN MORE ABOUT KINSHIP CIRCLE
World Animal Awareness Society
Core mission: To focus a lens on human-animal interactions and to share this information with the world. World Animal Awareness Society is documenting the Gulf oil spill for historical, educational and research purposes. Visual data will be archived indefinitely and distributed via WA2S.org.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL EYES ON THE GULF
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| Black Mangrove Island, LA: When embedded with USFW, we spot a severly oiled Roseate Spoonbill clinging to a boom to not drown. |
| 7/2/10: NGOs are not allowed to rescue, but our boat captain can't bear to watch the bird nearly drown. The oily spoonbill is caught and rushed to triage. |
| 7/2/10: From emergency triage, this rescued Roseate Spoonbill goes to IBRRC Bird Rehab. We learn this lucky bird will live. |
Queen Bess Island, LA: Oiled babies wander amid adults along contaminated shorelines. Photo (c)
WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Queen Bess Island, LA: Kinship Circle/WA2S.org volunteers document oiled baby birds. Photo (c) WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| 8/31/10: Kinship Circle's Rachel Laskowski and Craig Hill check rehabbed sea turtles at Audubon Aquarium, New Orleans, LA. |
| 8/31/10: Kinship Circle's Brenda Shoss documents 1 of 4 rehabbed turtles displayed at Audubon. One oiled turtle recently died. |
| 8/31/10: Before Deepwater capped the oil leak, turtles were rescued in marshmallow thick oil, clogging their throats, organs, etc. |
| Audubon's Meghan Calhoun tells Kinship's Brenda Shoss that the Gulf flows in a current circle with oiled animals at the TOP half. If the flow flips, a new wave of oiled animals could arise. |
| 8/29/10: At Hurricane Katrina's 5-year Anniversary, Lower 9th Ward residents hold a jazz funteral march for BP oil deaths too. |
| 8/29/10: A crowd gathers on Tennessee St. in NOLA's Lower 9th Ward, to celebrate renewal and perseverance. |
| 8/29/10: Brad Pitt's ongoing project to build green homes brightens New Orleans Lower 9th, an area flattened in Katrina. |
| 8/29/10: From the French Quarter to Lower 9th, Katrina Jazz-Blues Vigils bury horror and celebrate hope. Still, a note of desperation about oil-related loss pervades. |
| 8/27/10: We charter a boat, departing from Chauvin, LA into Terrebonne Bay, to explore Raccoon Island and other nesting grounds for signs of life and death. |
| Kinship's Rachel Laskowski (lt) arranges the boat tour, inviting wildlife photographer Darlene Eschete (rt). Eschete wants to show us an island with many dead Laughing Gulls. |
| Also aboard the day long boat expedition are Kinship Circle's Craig Hill (lt) and Grady Ballard (rt), director Brenda Shoss' husband. |
| Our charter boat captain sits with Elijah, Kinship Circle executive director Brenda Shoss' son, before heading out into Terrebonne Bay and deeper waters. |
| 8/27/10: As storm clouds thicken, a few BP oil boom boats head inland. We continue out toward open waters, through a blinding rain and choppy surf. |
| 8/27/10: At Raccoon Island, hundreds of pelicans mingle with small white gulls. We search for signs of oiled birds. |
| 8/27/10: We spot a dolphin. Her fins are vertical and still. At 3:57pm, Brenda Shoss notifies NOAA of this deceased dolphin's GPS coordinates. |
| Kinship's Rachel Laskowski and resident photographer Darlene Eschete search for more oil impacted animals. |
| Though stormy skies have darkened, we spot a pelican who can't seem to rise from the water.
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| Via binoculars, we note that her wing feathers are separated in clumps, a telltale sign of oil accumulation.
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| Kinship's Brenda Shoss reports the pelican's GPS coordinates to USFW, but we do not know if this oiled bird has been saved.
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| 8/27/10, Boat crew (from lt): Kinship Circle's Mary Kelly, Cadi Schiffer, local photographer Darlene Eschete, Brenda Shoss, Sarah Rose, Rachel Laskowski, Colleen Kessler; (back) charter boat capaitn, Grady Ballard.
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For the pelicans, each fishing dive
paints their bodies in another
toxic layer. Eventually, oil is so
thick they are flightless. |
| Oiled birds that we locate and report go to the International Bird Rescue Rehabilitation (IBRRC) cleaning/rehab operation. |
| Our AEOTGE team gains unique access into Audubon's turtle and dolphin Gulf oil spill rescue. |
| 7/2010: AEOTGE's Tom McPhee and Jon Shurtz record oiled turtles at Audubon Ctr. for Research on Endangered Species. |
| Rescued, cleaned and rehabbed sea turtles are tagged and micro-chipped. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Kinship Circle's Brian Truitt and Shawndra Michell embed with National Park Service to move 89 sea turtle eggs far from oil. |
| The sorrow of a Grand Isle resident is shown in this symbolic graveyard. Some locals fear the Gulf will become a dead zone. |
The Fort Jackson Bird Rehab Center in Buras, LA moves to Hammond, LA — north of
hurricane evacuation zones. |
In oil polluted areas, including parts of the Mississippi coastline, our volunteers record tar balls
and dead fish. |
| 6/15/10, Near Perdido Key FL: Slimy pools of oil and chemicals form along shorelines. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
6/13/10, Long Beach, Mississippi: Dead fish float in dark waters polluted with oil. Photo
© WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| 6/12/10, Buras, LA: AEOTG team members observe at Fort Jackson Rescue Center and the IBRRC Bird Cleaning Operation. |
| 6/12/10, Fort Jackson Rescue Center, LA: Pelicans are gavaged with Pepto Bismol to relieve them from oil ingestion. |
| IBRRC bird cleaning operation. Migratory birds first arrive to oiled habitat in July. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
Unified Command instructs us to treat animals like “a crime scene,” don’t touch anything.
© WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Government authorized animal rescuers only retrieve birds so oiled they can no longer fly. No NGOs may rescue at this point. |
| Whitecaps tinted yellow are a
sign of oil mixed in water. Dispersant is a milky residue on Grand Isle and elsewhere. |
| Volunteer Darla Wolak: To see this infinite mess at sea — devouring everything in its path as it creeps toward land — is terrifying. |
| You can smell oil, a biologist tells us, as it nears the shore. Its odor is subtle but distinct. We see thick crude on the seasside of booms. |
| If a bird is so thickened with oil she can no longer fly, she may be caught. At rehab, she is towel wrapped for a veterinary exam. |
| P.J. Hahn, Plaquemines Parish Coastal Director works with WA2S and KC Volunteers. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Only agents authorized under BP Unified Command are permitted to touch animals. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Oiled birds await cleaning at IBRRC (International Bird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center). Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Filmmaker Tom McPhee turns his lens on a press conference with LA Governor Bobby Jindal © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Some oil becomes invisible when mixed with water. Still, a layer coats any creature who passes through it. |
| A sign says: THANKS BP. I LOST PATRICK. Louisiana, 6/12/10. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| 6/14/10, Louisiana: “Help” is etched in beach sand. Locals fear the Gulf will be a dead zone. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| A filthy and now useless oil boom floats in Gulf waters, awaiting replacement. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
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6/15/10, Near Perdido Key, Florida. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Kinship Circle’s Rachel Laskowski undergoes training with director Tom McPhee of World Animal Awareness Society. |
| Kinship Circle's Sister Michael Marie and Rachel Laskowski phone in from the water while recording oil affected wildlife. |
| Some 25 species have been in oil rehab: Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls, larger seagulls, a variety of terns, and a rare Red Egret. |
| BP contracted cleaning crews work in the bayou, replacing dirty boom with clean boom. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Kinship Circle's Sister Michael Marie with Washington Post 3-time Pulitzer Prize Winning photojournalist Carol Guzy. See Washington Post story |
| Cleaning crews move filthy boom on to airboats for disposal, in Barataria Bay. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| The other victims: Shelters prep for an influx of surrendered animals. Photo: Kinship Circle, Humane Society of Louisiana |
| Income loss could lead to animal abandonment, as seen in the home mortgage crisis. Photo: Kinship Circle, Humane Society of LA |
| A St. Bernard Parish shelter already reports four times as many surrenders. Photo: Kinship Circle, Humane Society of LA |
| New Orleans shelters offer food pantries and discount med services, to keep pets in their homes. Photo: Kinship Circle |
| Kinship Circle's Sister Michael Marie, Bonnie Morrison, and WA2G film director Tom McPhee visit New Orleans area shelters. |
| 6/17/10, Humane Society of Louisiana, New Orleans: We also stop by PAWS in Plaquemines Parish, LSPCA and ARNO. |
| Boats are coated in a gooey redbrown film that eats through paint and corrodes hulls. Photo © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Fishing boats, rendered useless by the BP spill, are loaded with clean boom coiled inside clear trash bags. |
| At an island 25 miles from Lafitte, LA, 8 feet of shoreline is smeared black. Marsh grasses are dying. © WA2S.org / Kinship Circle |
| Plaquemines Parish coastal zone director P.J. Hahn lifts an oiled pelican stuck at Queen Bess Island. AP / Gerald Herbert |
| Rescued from the oil, a rehabilitated Kemp's Ridley sea turtle is released off Bolivar Peninsula in TX. msnbc.msn.com |
| Oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill continues to move inland along several gulf states. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert |
| A scientist retrieves a dead dolphin found in Barataria Pass. Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times |
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