Guardian UK: The BP oil spill's cruel toll of wildlife

[marmar]

The BP oil spill's cruel toll of wildlife
We can react positively to what is the largest case of cruelty to animals in US history – if it changes our behaviour as consumers

Ingrid Newkirk
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 June 2010 15.59 BST


BP has certainly shone an international spotlight on British business, but no one is applauding. In the US, it has more than the loss of human life, livelihoods and tourism to answer for. And so do the government inspectors who allowed the corporation to put profit before safety.

If the criminal investigation of BP and those who signed off on the drill-site inspection sheets and safety assurances shows wilful fraud and deception, dereliction of duty, bribes or who knows what else, there is one additional set of criminal charges that should be added to the list: cruelty to animals. For this is the largest case of cruelty to animals in US history.

There is no shortage of photographs of the animals that have died and are still dying – slowly, painfully, drenched in oil. It is hard for anyone to see the gulls and pelicans, blinking up through a thick coat of muck that prevents them from flying, eating, taking a drink of water or escaping the burning heat along the Gulf coast. It is even too much to come across video that shows a huge rubber-gloved hand gently plucking a tiny crab out of a puddle of black glop. Only the outline of body tells you what it is, although its struggles tell you it is still alive. For the moment.

For most of the animals, any help is too late. It is suspected that even if wildlife rescuers contain a bird in time, before much oil damage has been done, the terror of being handled by a predator, of being force-fed, doused, scrubbed and rescrubbed, is too much for their pounding hearts to endure. Even if they survive the trauma of being cleaned and re-cleaned, most will likely die after their release.

One also has to ask: "Where can they be released?" Many birds mate for life; others are lost without their flocks. Their nesting and feeding grounds now lie under the oil slick, their friends and family are dead or dying. What is there for them to return to? ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jun/13/bp-spill-animals-cruelty-gulf

[rpannier]

1. Criminal

But in the end their enablers in Congress will be there to tell us how sorry BP is and how we should stop picking on them

[WinkyDink]

2. Let them go to Germany, or Poland.

Great advice needs to be spread around.