The deaths of thousands of animals might be related to BP incident
More and more deceased sea creatures are found in the waters which were affected by the BP oil spill. The pathologists who performed autopsy on them found something strange. For example on a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, Dr. Brian Stacy, a renowned scientist, found out that its organs were all in an advanced state of decomposition. However the most interesting thing regarding the turtle was that it had a morsel of shrimp stuck in its esophagus.
That meant that the shrimp was the last thing that it consumed before dying. Dr. Stacy stated that it is very strange to discover shrimp inside a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, because they do not usually consume it. This particular turtle was found in the Mississippi Sound, and it is just one of the hundreds which shared a similar fate because of the Deepwater Horizon incident. The carcasses of these turtles are usually collected, tagged, wrapped in plastic, and then sent to laboratories, where scientists such as Dr. Stacy can determine their cause of death. At first sight, oil seems to be the reason of death for these creatures; however the answer is not that simple. 1,866 birds, 463 turtles, 59 dolphins and one sperm whale have been found dead in the sea, however none of them shows any signs of having been contaminated by oil. This is the first time when the scientists are asked to find the one responsible for the death of the animals. The investigation is more suitable to shows such as “CSI”, because the scientists have many leads, and have no obvious suspect so far.
There are a large number of clues as well, and evidence spreads throughout many states. More than half of the turtles have been found in Mississippi, the toxicology lab where the tests are being performed is located in Texas, and the animal autopsy room where the autopsy is performed can be found at the University of Florida. The ones in charge with finding the cause of death have a different approach than the detectives seen on TV, but even so, their task is somewhat similar. They have to observe the chromatographic spectrum analysis and to obtain the shrimp boat data recorders in order to see if the oil which was present on the deceased animals is the same as the one which was spilled by the Deepwater Horizon platform. If the oil is the one which spilled from the well explosion, then the British company will have to pay damages both in civil and criminal penalties. The damages for the endangered species will be much higher than in the case of the other animals.
Moby Solangi, the director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi, stated that is very important for the scientists to find out why all the animals died. In a laboratory at the Texas Tech University, the scientists collected 0.3-millimeter dolphin tissues in order to analyze the cytochrome P450 1A1 enzyme which breaks down the carbohydrates in the body. In the case of the endangered animals, collecting tissue samples is the only way of observing the toxins which the body of the animals contained when they died. In the case of the other animals, the scientists have different options of collecting this information. In case an animal will ingest or inhale oil, the consequences could be very grave. The animals could develop brain lesions, pneumonia, kidney damage, stress and even death might occur if the situation is not fixed. Many of the animals which are affected by the oil suffer from hyperthermia and exhaustion.
In order to remediate the situation, dispersants have been spilled into the water, but the dispersants might have also influenced the health of the animals. Studies have been made and have revealed that the dispersants can break the oil into tiny droplets, and can make the oil much more toxic for certain animals. They contain various chemicals which can cause hemorrhaging, and some dolphins which were found in the waters were bleeding. The scientists want to obtain much more data from the animals, by collecting numerous body samples, in order to be able to determine the exact cause of death. However before they send the tests for analysis, the scientists must find out which of these tests are more useful at finding the cause of death. Jacqueline Savitz, a marine biologist with Oceana, an ocean conservation group, stated that the samples should be sent as soon as possible, because any second matters.
Other laboratories analyze the crude collected from the spill, in order to determine their level of toxicity. In other laboratory, the scientists have placed crude oil on incubating duck eggs, in order to see if it has an effect on the development of the fetus inside the egg. Some scientists believe that the ones in charge with investigating the incident will not be able to find a single culprit, because there are various reasons which caused the death of the animals. The scientists will have to analyze the surviving animals as well, to see how they have been influenced by the oil, and so on.
Some people do not think that the oil is responsible for the death of the turtles. Many believe that the shrimp boats are the ones which caused the death of the turtles because they did not have the necessary equipment. The boats need to have certain devices which would protect the turtles. The nets have to provide an area through which the turtles can escape in case they get caught, but some believe that many of the boats do not have these devices. The law imposes the boat to raise the net once in a while in order for the turtles that are trapped in the net and can not escape, to be able to breathe air. However many believe that this law is not respected as well, and as a result many of the turtles die.
