Deepwater oil spill: turtle deaths soar amid fight to save wildlife

Guardian UK ^ | May 3, 2010 | Ed Pilkington

[Oldeconomybuyer]

This morning eight sea turtles were found dead in Pass Christian, in addition to nine yesterday, bringing the total number of dead turtle sightings in the wider area to at least 31.

Tests on the animals were being carried out at the Institute of Sea Mammal Studies in Gulfport, 10 minutes' drive along the sea from Pass Christian. The institute specialises in the study and treatment of stranded dolphins, sea turtles and other marine life and has a dedicated laboratory where 23 turtles are being kept in plastic bags in an animal morgue. Among them are Loggerheads, Leatherheads and Kemp's Ridley – the most critically endangered species of sea turtle in the Gulf.

Dr Moby Solangi, the institute's director, said necropsies would be carried out to see whether the turtles' deaths had anything to do with the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig and the 220,000 gallons of oil that are still being spewed into the Gulf each day. A team of vets would be looking to see if the animals had respiratory problems associated with inhaling oil fumes, or had consumed fish contaminated with oil.

Further tissue samples would be taken for laboratory testing for evidence of residues of hydrocarbons.

[ColdWater]

“Institute of Sea Mammal Studies”

Institute of Marine Mammal Studies?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

OK, that’s funny.

[Cvengr]

Damn, that’s more turtles than I knew were ever in the entire Gulf of Mexico. I wonder what attracts them to the localized oil spill, which only occupies less than 1% of the Gulf of Mexico.

Try to find a turtle from Port Arthur to Mobile during good fishing weather.

[autumnraine]

This is just sad. Sea Turtles don’t die of old age and have a hard time reproducing. I hate to hear of them dying from this.

[Joe 6-pack]

The laughable thing is that the media has glossed over the irony that Napolitano presided over the 2003 Phoenix Gas crisis:

"The governor says she was misled. Three days before the pipeline was shut down, Governor Napolitano departed on a 7 day raft trip down the Colorado River. On Friday, August 15, as gas lines were beginning to form in Phoenix, she departed for the annual National Governors Association Conference in Indianapolis, scheduled to run through Monday, August 18. She would later say that Kinder Morgan had assured her that there would be only "spot shortages" of fuel. On the basis of those assurances, at a press conference on August 13, she predicted that there would be some outages at independent stations, but that there would be no widespread shortage.

About 1:30 PM on Sunday, Governor Napolitano returned to her room from a seminar on the economic allure of biotech companies to return a phone call. The news she heard was not good. While she was away, long lines were forming at gas stations. The prediction that there would be no widespread shortages was turning out to be seriously in error. Seventy percent or more of stations in the Phoenix area were out of gas."

[muawiyah]

Didn’t they fix that deal with the turtles so that they are now an order of their own, not mammals or reptiles or birds at all ~ just turtles, and you know what that means ~ IT’S TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN!

[Blueflag]

Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata / Vertebrata
Class - Reptilia
Order - Testudines <— Chelomia
Two primary sub-orders: Cryptodira (sea turtles, snapping turtles et al.) and Pleurodira
Family - Chelonioidea

You’re on your own below that. Lotsa Genera.

Most people know the green turtle - Chelonia mydas

They’re still reptiles.