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kambrielThe terrifyingly heartbreaking images of Gulf coast shore birds are starting to surface:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
This kind of suffering isn't going to stop anytime soon as the oil continues to gush every minute of the day and night. Even if/when they do get the source of the leak under control, what's already been put forth will leave a legacy we'll be dealing with ~ and more importantly, the animals of the affected areas will be dealing with ~ for many years to come.
For weeks now, I've helplessly wished I could tell the birds, the fish ~ all the wildlife in the area to swim, crawl, fly and get out of the way... to ~please~ not take a drink or a swim or a dive in that oily/sheen covered area. To try not to ingest any of those dispersed bits floating amidst the depths of the waves through their fragile gills. But for all of Nature's wisdom, we simply don't have the capability to "tell" them and give them that kind of potentially life saving warning. They're simply left to their own devices, and when faced with something they've likely never had any experience dealing with before, well... this simply isn't something that they tend to get to get a second chance to learn from once wings are coated and beaks are filled.
I remember when "spills" (though this isn't so much a finite spill as much as a continuous, ongoing gush) happened in the past and birds needed help, volunteers rose to the occasion. Like when the penguins had to have oil cleaned off of them, but that stripped their natural protective coating such that it no longer properly insulated them, so volunteers around the world made and donated miniature handknit wool sweaters en masse for them to wear in the interim, and it saved lives. Why has there been no such "call to action" yet with this disaster? Are volunteers being kept away because of toxicity levels? Does this have anything to do with the massive amounts of chemical dispersants which are being used? Is it tied in to stories of the hearty fishermen in the area who were hired for official clean-up purposes that we are now hearing of apparently falling ill with breathing difficulties, chronic coughs, nausea, etc... (from the oil, or again, perhaps the unprecedented amount of dispersants)?
Is there a reason we don't have a massive volunteer effort underway? Do we just passively wait for this to "be handled"? Because I believe if we were welcomed/allowed/called forth to do what we could, we as a people would. It's just so hard to sit back and "let" a tragedy happen, and know that lives are being and will continue to be lost, before our very eyes.
Updated post here w/info on how to help: https://kambriel.dreamwidth.org/229377.html
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
This kind of suffering isn't going to stop anytime soon as the oil continues to gush every minute of the day and night. Even if/when they do get the source of the leak under control, what's already been put forth will leave a legacy we'll be dealing with ~ and more importantly, the animals of the affected areas will be dealing with ~ for many years to come.
For weeks now, I've helplessly wished I could tell the birds, the fish ~ all the wildlife in the area to swim, crawl, fly and get out of the way... to ~please~ not take a drink or a swim or a dive in that oily/sheen covered area. To try not to ingest any of those dispersed bits floating amidst the depths of the waves through their fragile gills. But for all of Nature's wisdom, we simply don't have the capability to "tell" them and give them that kind of potentially life saving warning. They're simply left to their own devices, and when faced with something they've likely never had any experience dealing with before, well... this simply isn't something that they tend to get to get a second chance to learn from once wings are coated and beaks are filled.
I remember when "spills" (though this isn't so much a finite spill as much as a continuous, ongoing gush) happened in the past and birds needed help, volunteers rose to the occasion. Like when the penguins had to have oil cleaned off of them, but that stripped their natural protective coating such that it no longer properly insulated them, so volunteers around the world made and donated miniature handknit wool sweaters en masse for them to wear in the interim, and it saved lives. Why has there been no such "call to action" yet with this disaster? Are volunteers being kept away because of toxicity levels? Does this have anything to do with the massive amounts of chemical dispersants which are being used? Is it tied in to stories of the hearty fishermen in the area who were hired for official clean-up purposes that we are now hearing of apparently falling ill with breathing difficulties, chronic coughs, nausea, etc... (from the oil, or again, perhaps the unprecedented amount of dispersants)?
Is there a reason we don't have a massive volunteer effort underway? Do we just passively wait for this to "be handled"? Because I believe if we were welcomed/allowed/called forth to do what we could, we as a people would. It's just so hard to sit back and "let" a tragedy happen, and know that lives are being and will continue to be lost, before our very eyes.
Updated post here w/info on how to help: https://kambriel.dreamwidth.org/229377.html
no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 01:23 pm (UTC)It's ironic that we had so many sea turtle strandings this fall--what seemed like a disaster at the time has probably saved those turtles' lives, as they were still in rehab centers up north rather than the area of the oil spill, where they would usually be.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 02:37 pm (UTC)Thank you for the link to this article ~ it spurred me on to do some more researching and send some emails to some of the people featured within it.
I'm grateful to hear of the sea turtles in the rehab centers up there. Serendipitous. Of course it's tragic to think of them being safer in manmade shelters than out in the wild where they were always meant to be, but whatever works for now, right?