Wounded Wildlife

Oiled birds are often the most visually disturbing and widely disseminated images associated with a major oil spill—as in the landmark Santa Barbara accident of 1969 or the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. Through November 1, 2010, wildlife responders had collected 8,183 birds, 1,144 sea turtles, and 109 marine mammals affected by the spill—alive or dead, visibly oiled or not. Given the effects of hiding, scavenging, sinking, decomposition, and the sheer size of the search area, many more specimens eluded collection.

As of November 1, the Unified Area Command reported that nine marine mammals had been collected alive (and three were released). One hundred mammals were collected dead, though only four of those were visibly oiled. Most of the marine mammal mortalities were bottlenose dolphins. Also among the dead was one juvenile sperm whale; it was found floating more than 70 miles from the source of the spill, reportedly un-oiled. More than 600 dead sea turtles were collected.