BP keeps killing brown pelicans

From Discover Magazine:

Meet the Oil-Covered Pelicans, Symbols of the BP Oil Spill

We have learned of top caps, top kills, junk shots, and dome plans. We have seen President Obama “furious,” standing on the Louisiana shore. Last week, we saw pictures of the immediate victims of the BP oil spill, the Gulf marine life. Pictures that many believe will endure as symbols of the entire spill.

Adding to the impact, the brown pelican is Louisiana’s state bird, and was only recently removed from the endangered species list.

“As a senior official of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, James Harris was too diplomatic to say if he thought the anger was justified, but, as a Louisiana native–from Pearl River, north of New Orleans, he pointed out forcefully why it was there, and how the first images of the oiled pelicans had intensified it. “I think it’s possible that they might come to symbolise the whole disaster,” he said. “For the people of Louisiana, the brown pelican is just as much a symbol of the state as the American eagle is for the nation as a whole, and to see the state emblem being threatened again and despoiled–people are very upset and angry about that.” “[The Independent]

But these images, including now famous photographs by AP Photographer Charlie Riedel, affect those who have never set foot in Louisiana.

Late last week, harrowing images of pelicans and other birds drenched in oil from BP’s blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico brought into sharp focus the destruction being wrought on the region’s wildlife by the vast slick: here.

Cute Endangered Animal: Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle: here.

This video is called The BP Oil Spill Re-Enacted By Cats.

Oil-affected wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico; photos here.

Heartbreaking new photos of animals coated in Gulf oil: here.