[url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,693359,00.html]Spiegel[/url]
[release]A German biologist says that efforts to clean oil-drenched birds in the Gulf of Mexico are in vain. For the birds' sake, it would be faster and less painful if animal-rescue workers put them under, she says. Studies and other experts back her up.
"Kill, don't clean," is the recommendation of a German animal biologist, who this week said that massive efforts to clean oil-soaked birds in Gulf of Mexico won't do much to stop a near certain and painful death for the creatures.
Despite the short-term success in cleaning the birds and releasing them back into the wild, few, if any, have a chance of surviving, says Silvia Gaus, a biologist at the Wattenmeer National Park along the North Sea in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.
"According to serious studies, the middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under 1 percent," Gaus says. "We, therefore, oppose cleaning birds."
The oil spill -- which continues to pump more than 200,000 gallons (755,000 liters) of crude into the Gulf each day -- was caused by an April 20 explosion on a BP-operated oil rig about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.
In the path of the spill are several large protected areas for wildlife, including a vital nesting area for thousands of brown pelicans which were only removed from the US Endangered Species Program last year. Louisiana's Breton National Wildlife Refuge is by itself home to 34,000 birds. So far, the vast oil slick has yet to make significant landfall, limiting the numbers of birds affected, but observers worry that it is only a matter of time before beaches along America's Gulf Coast become blackened.
Birds Will Eventually Perish from Long-Term Causes
Catching and cleaning oil-soaked birds oftentimes leads to fatal amounts of stress for the animals, Gaus says. Furthermore, forcing the birds to ingest coal solutions -- or Pepto Bismol, as animal-rescue workers are doing along the Gulf Coast -- in an attempt to prevent the poisonous effects of the oil is ineffective, Gaus says. The birds will eventually perish anyway from kidney and liver damage.
Gaus speaks from 20 years of experience, and she worked on the environmental cleanup of the Pallas -- a wood-carrying cargo ship that spilled 90 tons of oil in the North Sea after running aground in October of 1998. Around 13,000 birds drown, froze or expired due to stress as a result of the Pallas spill.
Once covered in oil, a bird will use its bill and tongue to remove the toxic substance from their feathers. Despite oil's terrible taste and smell, a bird will still try and clean itself because it can't live without fluffy feathers that repel water and regulate its body temperature. "Their instinct to clean is greater than their instinct to hunt, and as long as their feathers are dirty with oil, they won't eat," Gaus says.
Kill Them 'Quickly and Painlessly'
But it's the instinct of biologists, who often feel compelled to save the birds out of duty and ethical reasons, that will ultimately lead a bird to a worse death, say some. It would be better to let the birds die in peace, Gaus says, or kill them "quickly and painlessly."
Even dyed-in-the-wool preservationists from the WWF agree with Gaus. At the time of the 2002 Prestige oil spill off the coast of Spain, a spokesman from the organization said: "Birds, those that have been covered in oil and can still be caught, can no longer be helped. … Therefore, the World Wildlife Fund is very reluctant to recommend cleaning."
The Prestige spill killed 250,000 birds. Of the thousands that were cleaned, most died within a few days, and only 600 lived and were able to be released into the wild. According to a British study of the spill, the median lifespan of a bird that was cleaned and released was only seven days.[/release]
Finally a good excuse
I suppose this makes sense, if the fellas are suffering.
Peta is gonna brew up a hell of a shit-storm when it hears about this...
:smith:
[quote]"Kill, don't clean," is the recommendation of a German animal biologist,[/quote]
That sounds really assholeish.
Seems like a better idea than making them suffer a long term painful death.
[QUOTE=DireAvenger;22938157]That sounds really assholeish.[/QUOTE]
Yeah the long and painful death is totally better.
It sounds brutal but it's most often the best choice. Marine life and life on land is in a state of emergency right now with this disaster.
Clean them first and see how they do, then kill them if required.
[QUOTE=DireAvenger;22938157]That sounds really assholeish.[/QUOTE]
We could do it the PETA way, but that is just fooling yourself.
This may get approved for SOME birds, but it will never be approved for the pelicans. Since it is Louisiana's State Bird, a lot of people will be against this.
[QUOTE=BagMinge101;22938402]Wait, so why can't we just clean them?[/QUOTE]
The fumes from the non-refined oil is considerably hazardous to breathe. When you take an animal, which is about... 1/3 the size of a human ,and cover it in oil it gets sick a lot faster. At the point of oil contamination it would seem almost logical to kill them to put them out of suffering cause by now they probably have been poisoned in their lungs, and other important organs.
It's sad but it's better than letting the poor beggars suffer any more than they have to.
so if she was caught in an oil spill, we could kill her, right?
Well let me see now... German suggesting mass killing of species?
Sounds right to me!:smug:
[QUOTE=Glitch360;22938046]Peta is gonna brew up a hell of a shit-storm when it hears about this...[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Baldr;22938448]We could do it the PETA way, but that is just fooling yourself.[/QUOTE]
What do you mean, this [i]is[/i] Peta's method, considering they kill like 98% of animals they recover anyways.
[QUOTE=iusehax;22938923]Well let me see now... German suggesting mass killing of species?
Sounds right to me!:smug:[/QUOTE]
You aren't funny.
[QUOTE=DoctorSalt;22938942]What do you mean, this [i]is[/i] Peta's method, considering they kill like 98% of animals they recover anyways.[/QUOTE]
Erhm PETA's way is saying "we saved x animals" and secretly killing them. So some one giving donations to PETA thinks he did something to improve the lives of the animals.
Thats a bit diffrent than saying we kill them so they don't have to suffer.
[quote]"Kill, don't clean," is the recommendation of a German animal biologist[/quote]
Am I the only one who immediately heard in my head, [b]"Ze hurting is more rewarding than ze healing."[/b]
Use flamethowers.
[QUOTE=Sparkwire;22938883]so if she was caught in an oil spill, we could kill her, right?[/QUOTE]
Your logic is flawed. You can't compare the life of a human being to the life of a seagull. Millions of birds and other creatures are caught in the oil-spill, it's a massive waste of energy and resources trying to rescue all of them when 99% of them die from long-term effects caused by the oil-spill anyway. The chances of a human being surviving the same circumstances are exponentially greater than a seagull's, and at the same time you don't see a lot of people getting caught in oil-spills.
They're sad and unfortunate circumstances, but there's nothing to be done about them.
-snip-
I bet they'll burn real easy.
Let us kill all the birds covered in oil and fuck up an ecosystem even more.
Yay humanity.
[QUOTE=Glitch360;22938046]Peta is gonna brew up a hell of a shit-storm when it hears about this...[/QUOTE]
peta kills animals everyday, they'd be totally for this
I didn't know PETA kills animals, I thought they just rescued them as an excuse to have sex with them.
[QUOTE=stablemist;22940482]I didn't know PETA kills animals, I thought they just rescued them as an excuse to have sex with them.[/QUOTE]
They claim they don't, but they can't fund to keep all of the animals they have at shelters.
I probably sound like an ass for saying this, but what else are we supposed to do with them?
[QUOTE=Llivavin;22940387]Let us kill all the birds covered in oil and fuck up an ecosystem even more.
Yay humanity.[/QUOTE]
would you rather them die slowly and painfully?
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
