Wildlife in Gulf of Mexico still suffering four years after BP oil spill: report

From:  The Guardian 

by Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent 

 Environmental campaign group finds ongoing symptoms of oil exposure in 14 species – from oysters to dolphins

A dead turtle floats on a pool of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, June 2010. Four 

years later, wildlife is still being affected, a report has found. Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

 

The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico caused dangerous after-effects to more than a dozen different animals from dolphins to oysters, a report from an environmental campaign group said on Tuesday.

Four years after the oil disaster, some 14 species showed symptoms of oil exposure, the report from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) said.

"The oil is not gone. There is oil on the bottom of the gulf, oil washing up on the beach and there is oil in the marshes," Doug Inkley, senior scientist for NWF, told a conference call.

At the top of the food chain, more than 900 bottlenose dolphins have been found dead or stranded in the oil spill area since April 2010, when the BP well exploded. Last year, dolphins were still stranding at more than three times the average annual rates before the spill, the report said.  MORE