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A biologist in Germany has stirred up a fuss with comments suggesting it makes more sense to kill heavily oiled birds from the Gulf of Mexico oil-spill disaster than to clean them.
"According to serious studies, the middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under 1 percent," Silvia Gaus, a biologist at the Wattenmeer National Park along the North Sea, was quoted as saying on Spiegel Online last month. "We, therefore, oppose cleaning birds."
Biologists on the scene who are actually involved in the cleanup tell a slightly different story: Sure, sometimes it makes sense to euthanize birds who aren’t going to make it, or leave them to die in their natural habitat. But ethically speaking, they feel a duty to try saving the birds if there’s a chance they can be saved.
For example, Rick Steiner, an Alaska marine biologist who was involved in the 1989 Exxon Valdez cleanup and is now assisting Greenpeace, said from a boat in the Gulf that he and the crew turned in a heavily oiled young egret for cleaning just today.
"It was in horrible shape," he told me via telephone, "and I doubt seriously that it will survive the day. But, you know, we caused their pain and suffering, so we owe it to them to do everything we possibly can to give them a fighting chance of survival.”
Today's numbers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other groups involved in the cleanup show that 413 oiled birds have been collected alive, and 594 dead birds have been picked up. Of all those birds, only 39 have been released back into the wild.
The raw numbers from the Gulf certainly look grim right now, and Gaus expects those numbers to get even grimmer. She argues that rescuers' efforts to counter petroleum's toxic effects - for example, by having the birds ingest charcoal solutions or Pepto Bismol - are ineffective in the long run.
Spiegel Online says that Gaus bases her view on 20 years of experience: For example, she worked on the cleanup of the 1998 Pallas oil spill into the North Sea, which killed about 13,000 birds. The report also cites comments attributed to the World Wildlife Fund during the 2002 Prestige oil-spill cleanup off the coast of Spain, to the effect that oil-covered birds "can no longer be helped" and that the organization was "very reluctant to recommend cleaning."
During the present crisis, however, the WWF has been supportive of bird-cleaning. Although it's not directly involved in oil-spill response, one of its partners on the scene is the California-based Oiled Wildlife Care Network. And one of my sources at the WWF deferred to the International Bird Rescue Research Center, which is heavily involved in the bird cleanup effort.
Photo by Bill Haber / AP
Shannon Griffin, Julie Skogland and Darene Birtell clean a brown pelican at a rescue center set up by the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Buras, La.
Mark Russell, a project manager at the IBRRC, took strong issue with Gaus' claim that cleaning is ineffective: He told me that the studies on which she based her conclusions suffered from some gaps in procedure. (For example, what were the rehabilitation practices? Did the monitoring equipment that was strapped onto the released birds contribute to their demise? If you can no longer locate a bird with a transmitter, should you always assume that the bird died?)
Other studies indicate that the survival rate for cleaned-up birds can be quite high, from 78 to 100 percent, as noted on the "Living the Scientific Life" blog. And as bad as those oily pelicans may look in the pictures from Louisiana, Russell said it's often the oiliest birds that have the highest survival rate. That's because they tend to be picked up earlier, before dehydration, hypothermia and other ills have set in.
Russell said there was once a long-running debate over whether the stress of rehabilitation does the birds more harm than good. (Research shows that it doesn't.) Even now, there's a debate over whether the resources spent on wildlife rehabilitation should be directed instead toward rebuilding the tarnished environment left behind by an oil spill. The way Russell sees it, cleaning up the animals is part and parcel of cleaning up the ecosystem. Keeping wildlife populations as healthy as possible will make the recovery easier. "This isn't a 'this-or-that' situation," Russell said.
To be sure, life-or-death decisions have to be made in the field. Steiner told me that oiled birds have a "decent chance" of surviving if they're brought in during the first 24 hours of exposure to oil. But as any veterinarian will tell you, sometimes the decent thing to do is to let the animals go ... and learn a lesson.
"There is a point at which, obviously, they are suffering needlessly, and certainly they should be euthanized," Steiner said. "Some are so far gone when you're capturing them for rehab, that the best thing is to leave them there and let them die in their natural habitat. ... It pulls at the heartstrings, but this is how people get the idea behind our oil addiction, by looking at these oil-soaked birds."
To get a better sense of the struggle to save Gulf wildlife, check out our slideshow as well as the IBRRC's blog - and feel free to weigh in with your comments below.
Update for 7:10 p.m. ET: In your comments, please refrain from talking about "euthanizing" or killing anyone. Some commenters have noted that the reported survival rate for Gulf birds brought in for rehabilitation is around 10 percent, not 1 percent. But it's too early to say how much longer those animals survive once they've been released. In the Spiegel article, Gaus says the 1 percent figure she cited applies to "midterm survival." Russell says that figure is too low, even for longer-range survival, based on the scientific literature he's seen.
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A devastatingly sad commentary on the clash of capitalism and humanity.
wow.. u ppl are really sick. if u were even in an oil spill maybe you should die. ur telling ppl to kill animals becasue of a spill. its nasty to do. would u wanna be killed and taken away from ur friends and families? NO YOU WOULDNT
I have tried to avoid looking @ the pictures of the devasted sealife & wildlife that have been affected by this situation. I say SAVE THEM! I think it's total bull to even think about killing them if they can be saved. These are God's creatures too and it's our responsibility to take care of them. If God didn't care about these creatures, he wouldn't of created them. Saving them is our duty and it's the human thing to do!
This sickens me; we need to try to save them all.
are you sick /??kill them?? what kid human are you people this country is out of control god will punish people like you?
we should be there for the birds humans caused it humans clean thier @!$%# up. Poor things. we are killing our earth. with help from mother nature! Good Luck and Stay safe.
clean them,pepto in a feeding tube cause of ingestion,maybee even pay some people,hey a job thats a idea,contain the birds till this disaster,we caused is cleaned the heck up. then release them presto .
pour oil on that biologist and ask him : should we kill you or clean you ?????
then do whatever she will say
dont @!$%#ing kill them!!! where the hell is humanity
Kill them? Euthanasia should not be considered so quickly. Have we learned nothing? (Germany circa 1940-1945; just put them out of their misery?)
Maybe he should let the folks on the scene make the call?? I'm curious if he's motivated by animal rights idiots in the States who were saying that Knut the Polar Bear should be killed rather than live his life in the Berlin zoo!!! I personally feel that any bird that can be saved should be, and some of BP's "suits" should be part of the wash crew !!!!
I agree with you Tammy. It breaks my heart also, my eyes fill with tears....
I think thats such a cop out! Not everything in this world is disposable! Those birds are suffering at the hands of man so everything in mans power should be done to make sure they are cleaned up, cared for and put back in their normal home. To leave them there to die a horrible and senseless death is like saying its okay to treat them that way and it doesn't matter. Well, IT DOES MATTER and what this stupid BP has done to our environment and peoples lives is disgusting and I hope they pay BIG while they are sitting up in their fancy homes away from all the mess they made. They should be here doing the cleanup with their own hands!!!
hmmm, sounds like this German scientist is a nazi
I believe that they should clean them! Imagine how much those creatures have gone through. They are no different than us, humans. We should treat them well and do the right thing, which is to clean them. Seeing pictures of these poor animals suffering is just so sad for me to see.
Why would you even think about killing God's creatures? We as human beings are here to care for the earth, and every thing that is in it. We have no right on killing these poor animals that are now suffering due to a human error. This makes me very sick, I try to avoid looking at the images, even though I am not near the catastrophe, I still feel compassion for all the creatures that are suffering. On my behalf I feel that people who say to let these poor animals die are sick and are in need of God's love. Regardless of the chances of survival, we still have to do everything that is in our hands to help these animals.
I think that we should clean the birds.Killing them is just insane and immoral.I believe we should give out jobs to help clean the birds.Ofcourse they should be paying jobs but I also believe they would create temporary employment and BP should paY for it since they are responsible for the birds condition.
It is our duty as human beings to protect all living things that we are inadvertantly destroying. Maybe we would get a better responsive from BP (not being so human) if we had their own CEO covered in oil and washed...or maybe we could have the oil lap onto their very own shoreline, since ours is obviously seemingly not so important to them. NOLA born and raised and angry again....
It hurts my heart to see so many creatures in such bad shape.....and they should be saved if possible...BP will and must bear the cost....that said, where are these animals (birds, turtles, gators, fish etc) to go once cleaned and released.....right back to the area they know as "home"....only to become contaminated all over again. I have no good answer.....and then what about the dead and dying and those consequences. We need to use intelligence in such matters and try to control the emotional aspects of this horrible tradegy.
This is bullcrap.
Ok so if we were the ones victimized by this oil spill and someone says to you " hey would you like us to bathe you or kill you so you wont be dirty anymore"?
What the hell do you think!!!!? Like seriously what is this the holocaust for animals!!???!!!??
Its 2010 people if we can fight through an economic crisis we can fight for animals too.
Why didn't the government come in with berms and booms early on so this wouldn't have happened? They've spent trillions, why not a little more and bill BP later? Why did they wait so long???
Sometimes it comes down to the fact that animals have to be put down.. it's way of life. BUT in this situation WE did this too them, WE were the ones endangering their lives, why cant we at least take the time and effort to help the few animals that will be helped????
I don't want the birds to be abused but my guess is that many of those protesting are the same people who have no problem with an unborn baby being disposed of everyday in our country.
The birds did not ask to be in this situation...they need to be saved as best possible. The parties responsible should fund the people who are cleaning up the birds. If you save one life it is worth it.
Please clean the birds...and as a matter of fact where do I sign up to help and do my share?
I think we should absolutely NOT hurt those birds. I think we should do anything we can to help them. I mean, they didn't ask for this to happen it was our fault. So we should everything we can to make sure they can be healthy again.
That is the same German scientists who wanted to kill Knute - the Berlin ploar bear whose mother had refused to acknowledge him. The guy has a quick trigger when deciding to kill. How very German.
that's really really stupid! we made the mess by drilling for oil in the first place-- of course we need to clean it up if we can!sure there's a point when it's too late, but not helping them at all is a terrible idea. Fail.
An EXPERT... who the hell is the EXPERT... this is beyond bulls#*t... those BP should have had an emergency shut off before this even happened .... How do you have a system like this without an emergency shut off in the freakin ocean? Why does this keep happening... and who suffers? Everyday people that are trying to make a living......AND these poor animals DO NOT have a say about anything.... who has the right to say kill them.... some money grubbing EXPERT!!?? REALLY? Is this what is has come too... AN EXPERT? Well I'm an EXPERT in loving people and animals.... IT has to stop...!!!!
What a great way to make a disaster worse. I mean let's get real. We don't put cancer patients out of their misery we fight to make them better with chemotherapy or whatever form of healing they choose. Why not fight to make these animals better. It's not their fault this happened to them. I strongly believe they should continue to clean these animals, birds, and any sea life up to at least try to save them. If they need more help then they should get the message out there for people like me who have free time this summer who would love to lend a helping hand. They can't blame this new possible route of killing the birds and animals simply on the fact that they don't have enough help to clean them if they don't ask for help in the first place.
I would first like to say that i am a conservative. This oil spill is a sad mess that just seems be every day news. I truly believe that this issue should not even be discussed. BP has caused one of the greatest MAN induced disasters of modern times. Why should we kill animals when in FACT this disaster was caused by man. We live in a age where man can fix most of its mistakes, why cannot we fix this ? Where is the federal government to tell BP " FIX IT ALL" . Well maybe once again, money of big business does dictate what to do, Republican or Democrat . God help us all.
kill the bp employees !!!!!!!!!!
I say we match with one BP executive or insanely insensitive scientist/writer for every oil soaked animal that has to be put down. This entire situation is absurd. The BP operation should have been shut down sometime before their 700th safety violation! Not really sure who to blame at this point. I was a #1 Obama fan, but this really disappoints me. Hey McCain/Palin "DRILL BABY DRILL" -idots
This German biologist also suggested it would be better to have Knute killed - the Berlin polar bear denied accpetance from his mother - than continue as an orphan. So he is pretty consistent when it comes to opting for death, which come to think of it, is a very German thing to do.
We blow it by letting oil companys drill in our oceans. We have to try and save all that we can. Then we should think twice before we let oil companys drill ( at leased without a back up plan ).
Who are we to say who can live or die? Animal or not, they still have hearts that beat just as we do.... The people deciding to put these beautiful creatures "out of their misery" obviously haven't dealt with death first hand. You can't just decide that they're better off dead then helping them out.... You have to put your self in their place. I'm a Vet tech and see this choice played out every day. If there is something that someone can do for them to help them live then why not? Especially something as simple as giving them a bath. Again, you have to ask yourself, if you were in their place, what would you want someone to do for you? Better yet, if it was your child, what would you want someone to do for them?
It is not the birds fault the mistakes that human kind have made. Why should the birds have to suffer in being jeopardize on having their life taking away. Everyone deserves an opportunity to live. It is not totally correct to take animals and people lives away just because mankind are lazy enough to clean their mess up.
Save them!!
BP needs to be shut down fully!
What if it were people who were caught in radiation or something would you just give up hope and let them die???? Why would you kill an animal it is at least worth trying to save them. They are breathing creatures and have every right to live. They shouldnt be punished for our dumbass mistake. We made that pipe and it is our fault it broke. Take some responsibility people.
Clean those birds!!!None of this is their fault and they should NOT have to suffer pay the ultimate price for BP's huge mistake!!!BP, you need to spend your advertising dollars on wildlife clean up and take total responsibility for your screw up!
Hey brian-1867625
You have no clue about anything German, the only thing you are showing is ignorance!
I think we should put the BP execs out of their misery.
Please wash them. Human are killing this planet... We cannot just say making mistake...
BP should be setting up hundreds of "cleaning" centers along the coast!!! They have the money to do it!! We all know they would rather just dispose of the sick animals so people won't see how they have destroyed one of the most beautiful habitats there is. These people should be prosecuted and sentenced to living in a barrel of oil for the rest of their lives!
Never kill an animal, if it can be nursed back to good health. Violence of any kind, is never a real solution only the answer to an already big problem. This "expert" clearly has her brain up her a— _, and a heart of stone if she thinks killing these innocent creatures is the answer.
I was waiting for the comments about Germany. It always amazes me how fast people with old history in somebody elses front yard. One person has an opinion, and of course now she is a nazi. By the way, the Biologist is a she.
We, as humans, must do every thing that is in our power to save All wildlife that suffers due to our negligence. And as for the spill; well that could have been stopped a long time ago, but, it's all do to "politics" the reson why it is still leaking. With all of the technologies that we have these days, something could have stopped the leak a long while back. But that is nothing new; always wait until it's too late and much damage has been done, i.e: Katrina catastrophy; 911 catastrophy and on and on and on.
I think the oil company should have to pay to try and save these poor animals! It saddens my heart greatly to see the devastation of defensless helpless creatures because of the stupidity of the greedy bastards trying to make another dollar! and its not just the birds suffering!!! But im sure they are saddened as they sit in their multi millions dollar homes drinking cocktails watchin all this....they need to get out there and help clean up the mess they created!!!! EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!!!
Treat BP the same as you would treat the birds!
It didn't take long, to call the Biologist (she) a Nazi. It's her opinion. Bad comparison.
I think the oil spill is horrible! How can you drill oil without a back up plan. Many many fish and animals will continue to die, for who knows how long. I think you should save as many animals as you can because depending on how long it continues to spill we might not have many animals when it's all done.
Every living being in this world is owed the respect to save their life in such a simple way as giving them a bath, etc. If they do die, at least they will die with some sort of respect, even though the cause of their death is the most egregious disrespectful act we could ever do to our environment and nature. It is sickening, but these animals should not die an equally sickening death, by being euthanized covered in oil. Shall we euthanize those directly responsible in the BP Corporation for not maintaining such a serious structure as an oil rigg, which they well knew would have serious repercussions? Lets cover them in oil and euthanize them or let them die from the toxins. Any percentage of these animals that survive is worth the full effort, and it is good karma to have done everything we possibly could to reverse an act of destruction to the earth's ecosystem.
well i think save the birds because they should live not die for something we did
has this world gone that lazy when it was our mess that started it
to have some biologist in germany to say just euthanize the birds just because
its the easiest to do instead of taking responsibility and putting some work into this
I have a group of students are more than willing to make the trip to help with cleanup....help us get there and we will help to save the lives of these poor innocent victims!!!!!!!!
So here's the deal. If your house is burning down wouldnt you expect a fire man to save you? What about if you were in a bad car accident? Hopefully a police officer will pull you out of that car. Why would you be cruel to an animal and just kill it because it's in trouble. It's not the animals fault that it's covered with oil. Get a clue people!
I'm pretty sure it would be cheaper to just let the birds die in captivity then kill them but even that is unethical. Our world is based around statistics even though a statistic is just and average value not an individual value. Basically 10 out of 100 birds would survive. I can see the BP consulting Gaus right now throwing ideas out, should we save the birds? No no, just wipe them out, only 10 out of 100 survive, even though 10 out of 100 women with stage IV breast cancer have the same chances to live, nah just kill them too what the hell.
and this is my source for the breast cancer statistic.
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/breast/
Makes more sense to kill the birds?. Well I say That is the same line of thinking that got millions of jews put to death in concentration camps by the Germans!!
Save them! Think it's ridiculous to think of extermination as the answer. If they can be saved I say save them. Make BP pay for it!!!!
The only humane situation is to give the pelicans a chance for life. We caused this situation and we must do all we can to give life a chance, life will find a way. I compare to a soldier injured in combat and saying this soilder will never life a normal life, let's just euthanize him. Of course not! Do all that is humanly possible! It does not shock me that a German came up with horrific solution.
i'm all for saving birds and wildlife, but you people have no idea the money and resources it takes to attempt to save all or even most of the animals and birds that are and will continue to be affected by this spill. spend that money, time, and technology saving the hundreds and thousands of familys (human) that this has effected for generations to come.
soooo, i guess thats Germany's answer for everything.
How can we not help these birds?! We did this! It is almost like we are saying lets not help the people either. Sure they are birds but they help us live. Everything is on this earth for a reason. We have the power to help these creatures so we need to help them. And this stupid guy is lazy, he probably sits around on his couch all day doing nothing. That is what I'm getting from what he is saying. And here is a question for him and all you who agree with him. If you were covered in oil and and couldn't help yourself you would want people to help you, right?
In my opinion to try and figure out what percentage of birds will survive or die isnt our job as man kind. We did this and we sould help the animals affected no matter how much it cost or how many survive.We are all responsible anyone who has ever road in a car or used electricity for anything are responsible. If you want to find humans who havent contributed to this oil disaster you would need to go deep into the hindu kush mtns of afganistan or maybe the rainforest of brazil. It funny that you will find the people that have never used electricity or oil in the very places where we ingage in war at.
Really? Its not the birds fault that their living in oil now. People did it, not the wildlife. Why dont we kill bp workers and employ better ones? Thats messed up right? My point exactly.
I'd like to know why the hell the people sitting up in their cushy offices that helped create this mess aren't on the ground themselves volunteering to take the time to clean it up. Whatever happened to Humanity and Compassion. I agree with another quote i read, let the people helping those poor innocent creatures decide wether or not they can be saved. This entire situation is heartbreaking. My tears and prayers go out to all the innocent sea life and innocent bystanders involved in this sad unfortunate event.
Imma start by askin those responsible for this @!$%# how'd u feel if this entire group of voices came 2 ur house, took away ur son cuz he ingested somethin potentially lethal n even havin a chance of savin him, we tell u that is best 2 kill him?? BITCH! i think the ones responsible for this mess should b the ones spendin the big bux in cleanin it, not on lambo's, jets n all the @!$%# rich, selfish m**********rs buy with all the money they got. SAVE THE BIRDS, WE DID THIS, WE SHOULD PAY 4 IT, NOT THEM!!
Alright i get where there coming from maybe the earth is to populated with birds. So when you think of it theyll just conceive again and itll be fine, because more birds will take there place?
No lets turn that into human form, if your child got caught in an oild spil youll just kill them because you dont want to spend a little more money and time to clean them up so youll just kill them, no there your kids and when times come were they come help them selves you have to step in to give them that push and your going to clean them up and help them bc thats your job.
There for, so yeah BP didnt want to spend the extra money on a turn off switch & put the hole wild life on a 50% chance risk evertime they breathe in the ocean, why? bc they suck, but were better then that, why? BECAUSE NATURE IS CRUEL, BUT WE DONT HAVE TO BE!
so yeah dudes spend the extra money and time on cleaning up the whild life bc I would hate to be you when this generation gets older and were taking care of your med in a nursing home, @!$%#s!
have a nice day!
Would you kill your baby if it got dirty, or would you clean it? CLEAN THE BIRDS!! Try to save them first!!
This hurts my heart! Right now I can hear Michael Jackson's song "Earth Song" playing in my ear. This is awful!!!! CLEAN THE BIRDS. IT IS NOT THEIR FAULTS.
I say let them clean there dam self.... if you pour oil on me i can clean myself why spend money on birds when we should be using it for other things. =]
if only 1% lives why spend millions on cleaning them. its like burning money would you like to hand me you wallet so i can burn your cash / plastic to the the ground if so your just as dumb as the people cleaning the bird =]
This is a "no-brainer"....get the dawn soap and clean the birds. :)
save them!!!!!
I think we should send the bird cleaners into the gettos of America to teach the poor kids how to spell and read
I love birds as much as the next guy but how much soapy solution is going to go back into the enviornment to save these 10%?
To all of you who disagree with this German's thoughts, that's fine, good for you!
However, when you go to your local pound and adopt all the animals to be killed tomorrow, THEN you hop in your car and head to the Gulf Coast and spend your own time and your own money to help these birds, I'll take your word for it that you really believe these animals should be saved at any costs, for any reason.
Respectfully Submitted.
My heart breaks and tears flow everytime I see the damage we have brought on the animals and our ecosystem. This is our responsibility. I can't believe that individuals want to choose the easy and less expensive option. This planet provides everything we need and we are willing to destroy it without contemplation, why? BP needs to make this right!
This is sick. Alway the easy way out. No sir Mr BP and the rest hoodwinkers. Save the animals and oil up the BP prez and his cronies. Are they salvagable? Probably not, morally or otherwise.
we should try to save as many that can be saved as possible!!! its not their fault it is mans fault so man should try to make it a little better if at all possible!! this whole thing is so ridiculous i refuse to get gas from bp ever again we should cover them in oil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
as i read this article i am glad that there are more people still care for the survival of the birds and other animals. for those people who said "to kill heavily oiled birds than to clean them" it's because they don't want any obligation and they tried makes things to be easier. I hope we also see the root of this problem that human cause the problem and animals has affected. the birds and other animals tried to survive and if we can help as we can, and we can save them. We people has many resources and we can do things to save them. SAVE AS YOU CAN!
Oh, and one more thing.
IF you have bought gas in the past 40+ days, then you have pronounced BP and every other oil company and associated corporation as "Not Guilty."
Respectfully submitted.
Poem One...Can make that difference
There was one spill, one error, one killed, one helping crew.
It became one big disaster, thousands killed, one hundred helping hands.
Many died, many injured survivors, hoping for that 1% chance of survival.
Why wouldn't you try to help? Help that 1percent, help just that one bird.
You, me, we, just one can make that difference!
well they might better just shoot em instead of scarin em to death by cleanin them...it would also be cheaper than paying a bunch of people to clean them anyway
Thank you, President Obama, for sitting around for 45 days while the likes of British Petroleum destroyed the Gulf and will soon destroy the entire State of Florida. Is this your idea of effective leadership? Instead of trans-continental Democratic fundraising, endless campaign speeches, vacations, wining/ding the Mexicanos and Paul McCartney, you should have focused on this crisis, which has reached epic proportions and from which a large part of this nation will never fully recover. This is YOUR mess under YOUR watch, so, this time, don't blame anyone else. British Petroleum isn't obligated to answer to us but you are!
I think the animals should be cleaned and saved. BP should have to foot that bill and should be helping to clean them too.....
I think bp should be out cleaning the birds, I think if they have a shot at surviveing, then do all you can to help them, they would'nt be in this mess if it was'nt for us!
Are you people freaking kidding me? These are innocent animals that are suffering due to BP's mistake. I say we cover the families if the BP executives and then ask the same question. Do we leave them covered in oil or pit them out of their misery. Let's take a certain percentage of the executives bonus' and have them pay to have these animals cleaned. Holy hell this has got me pissed off.
It's completely ridiculous to even talk about killing the birds. Yes, oil occurs naturally, but if BP would just take responsibility and actually do everything they can to stop the leak they caused, maybe this wouldn't be such a huge ordeal. The animals have the right to at least have the opportunity to live since the oil leak would not have happened if if wasn't for some ignorant, money-hungry humans. So it's our responsibility to clean up our mess and help the things that we hurt along the way. I'm sure that this was not intentional, but come on, do people really think they can just use up all of the earth's natural resources without any repercussions? That's a terrible idea. So I say that everyone should suck it up and take better care of the mess that we made and step up and take care of these animals. I actually like the idea of soaking that German in oil and seeing if we should euthanize him or not! I wonder if he would change his mind if he was to come and see all of the suffering animals. There's a reason for charities and funds like Dawn Dish Soap. It really does get rid of the oil grease and at least they're trying to help! So I obviously say DON'T KILL THE ANIMALS!
you cannot kill the birds the only reason why they want to kill them is because they dont want to take the time and clean them all your just sick in the head i might be to young to do anything about it but if you bring me all those birds i would be dedicated to clean all of them i love our animals and i will do anything to keep them alive i will clean them each until there is no more signs of oil on them i just think its wrong to even ask that question "should we clean the oil birds or let them die!!!" just think about itnim 13 and imn saying this
as i read this article i am glad that there are more people still care for the survival of the birds and other animals. for those people who said "to kill heavily oiled birds than to clean them" it's because they don't want any obligation and they tried makes things to be easier. I hope we also see the root of this problem that human cause the problem and animals are affected. the birds and other animals tried to survive and if we can help as we can, and we can save them. We people has many resources and we can do things to save them. SAVE AS YOU CAN!
I wonder how BP would handle their own people suffering like the wildlife in the gulf...I'd bet they'd be moving a lot faster. Shame on them. They are hiding behind lies and money. I would venture most of the people out there trying to save these animals would like to see the CEO of BP oil slicked, left to suffer in his "natural habitat".
save the birds you can not just kill them like that I thought we were trying to save animal life in the ocean not kill them!!!!
Why are the birds being released back into the wild? Wouldn't they just go back to the Gulf and meet the same grim fate as before. Why aren't they keeping them in captivity until the spill is cleaned. BP should be paying for their accommodations. Or they could be returned to the wild in a different area, far away from the spill. It's seems like insanity to return them to the conditions they were in before. Does anyone have information on this?
The birds and all the wildlife affected should be given a chance to survive. It is our responsibility as keepers of the earth to do so. Letting them die is the easy thing to do and would prove that people have no heart. It is so sad to see needless suffering. NO OFFSHORE DRILLING!! I understand we need oil, we live off of it, but I believe land drilling is much safer for wildlife, even if they are displaced.
Are you crazy u have to save the birds as many as possible there is hope for some of them dont kill them you are not even giving them a chance if you kill them you are killing mother earth what has this world come to !!!!!!!!!!
Greg-281912
To all of you who disagree with this German's thoughts, that's fine, good for you!
However, when you go to your local pound and adopt all the animals to be killed tomorrow, THEN you hop in your car and head to the Gulf Coast and spend your own time and your own money to help these birds, I'll take your word for it that you really believe these animals should be saved at any costs, for any reason.
Respectfully Submitted.
Are you kidding me dude? There's a night and day difference here. BP caused THIS MESS in THIER habitat. They should have to pay for. And yes, if I could adopt every animal from the pound believe me I would. But for you to say some stupid @!$%# like that is ignorant. These birds were not caught by a wildlife officer for someone to adopt. They were simply in their habitat that BP polluted. Think about what you're saying before you type.
Respectfully Submitted
will all you illiterate people please stop posting , oh sorry , you probably don't understand that word either .
These animals should be saved , end of story !!
You should take the time to clean the birds!!! I thought we were trying to save animal life not kill it!!!
we also need to try to save the lives of animals and clean the ocean!!
How dare anyone even think that we should just kill these animals!!!!! It is the fault of the idiots that run all this oil crap that didn't take into consideration what could happen if this happened!!! It is our responsibility to clean up our greedy human behavior no matter what the cost. And I am sure that this is in question because of some money issue. The innocent creatures that are being affected by this have more rights than the rich @#$%'s that bypassed all the things that they did to save a buck!!!!
That`s your solution ? Killing the birds ? I have never heard anything so stupid in my life.
Do you get rid of your children because they`re dirty ? No - you clean them !!!
I can`t believe that this is even an issue. Shame on the person or group of people that even thought this would be a viable solution. I`m shocked. Where is your humanity ? Where is your common sense ?
Leave it to a German to come up with that solution.
It's really sad that so many individuals would jump so fast to throwing out racist stereotypes about the Germans based on one individual's opinion. Especially since so many of you are referring to religion as a reason not to let the birds die. Perhaps someone should call you radical bible-thumpers? Not everybody in this country has the same religion (beautiful thing about freedom), so using God as an argument is assanine and makes you just as intolerant as the Nazi's. Maybe less violent, as long as you're not the ones bombing abortion clinics and walking into churches to shoot a man in the head at close range (pretty Nazi-ish if you ask me), but definitely equally as intolerant.
Beyond that the usual arguments of the right though, I think some of you are missing the point here. When a bird becomes completely covered in oil it no longer has the ability to regulate its body temperature. In addition, it cannot fly or move freely, so it's cannot hunt (pelicans eat scoop fish from the water) and it cannot swim. Therefore, if it does not die of starvation/dehydration it will most likely drown or die of shock from not being able to regulate its temperature. From a scientific point of view, these birds are suffering tremendously. Allowing them to continue living and try to get through the clean up process is likely very painful and stressful for these birds, so attempting to save them may be deemed just as inhumane as allowing them to pass. Especially if they don't make it through that stressful clean up process - in that case, we've caused them even more suffering in vane. Add to that the fact that after they're cleaned up they are at risk of being oiled again because BP can't seem to find a way to fix their mistake, that means they may suffer all over again.
The point is, it is unfair for you to condemn a biologist who is simply offering another point of view. It doesn't make her a Nazi or a bird-killer. Sometimes, rational, logical, scientific thinking is worth consideration, and that is all she is proposing. People who are writing awful messages about this woman that they don't even know and what awful things should be done to her are far worse than any scientist trying to use what we know to make the most practical decision. These animals are suffering terribly. In many cases, refusing to admit defeat is simply prolonging the inevitable, and that is just not fair to an animal that is already in pain, hurt, scared, and unable to help itself survive.
Now you can all crucify me for not embracing your "God's creatures" bit. And that's fine. I already covered that in the first paragraph and now I will reiterate for good measure - ignorant, unreasonable, irrational, small-minded, intolerant. The biologist is not a Nazi, nor am I (I'm not even German so you'll have to be a little more creative when you put me down because we disagree). She's someone with a point of view that is not the same as yours. That doesn't give you the right to brand her and call her awful things. After all, you're not God.
If you can clean 100 and save 10, it was worth it because you have 10 more birds left alive than you would have had you done nothing. The biologist is likely looking at this from a purely logical point of view where she is calculating that the population saved would likely be unable to procreate at a rate fast enough, with enough genetic diversity to make a full biological recovery possible in the forseeable future. The birds that are saved have no home to return to. Look what we have done. BP wanted to drill, people wanted good paying jobs on the rig, other people didn't want to see the rigs, engineers and scientists wanted to meet the challenge of deep sea drilling, we all wanted oil and the government wanted votes and everyone thought they were getting what they wanted until the weak link gave out. We are all responsible for this. I say save all the birds we can for as long as we can keep them going. But be wary of playing God. We could gather the bodies of the birds that perish and clone them to bring more genetic diversity to future populations but then would their be enough fish to feed the bird population. If we increase the fish population for the artifically preserved bird population will the fish have enough to eat? Humans are not God. We can destroy much more than we can ever restore.
The biologist says kill them so they won't have to suffer. Alot of you freak out immediatly, think for a second... I don't agree with killing the birds either though if there is chance for survival, but it kills me to imagine how much damage has been done inside of them. I'm glad they are still sticking with cleaning them. Poor things...
we owe it them to try and save them, we created this mess its up to us to try and fix it animals and all... I wish I could help if anyone knows who to contact to lend a hand Id be interested in donating my time ....???
Everyone of you, right here and right now, has the power to save an animal. Right now.
Go to the nearest pound and ask them what animals will be killed tomorrow if they aren't adopted. Then, take all these animals to your home, and take good care of them, and this includes all medical bills to ensure that the sick ones survive.
Go ahead, do it, then tell me about it!
This just shows how sick people are and how little morals they really have. Animals are innocent and defenseless against this tradgey that was caused by humans. These animals deserve a fighting chance not to be knocked off to save a buck. People who are this fu**ed up make me sick and I lose a little more faith in human nature.
Oh, and you can't go to the pound in a car that burns gas, or a bus, or a taxi, so maybe you'll walk and then take something in which to bring all the animals back home in.
Go ahead, right now, and then tell me your story about the animals you saved, tonight.
have you all lost your mind!!!???? clean them!!!! this is about us now! not about whomever else! who really gives a @!$%# about the he said she said...or the who dunnit! just help those that can not help themselves! isn't that what america is about? if not someone help me out of this country!
Alright jus think about this dumb a$$ question!!! Why would we kill them if we could save some? The ones we couldn't save, well we'll take that as a loss. It just sounds to me (BP) don't want to clean up there mess!!! OK lets just kill them so we don't have to use the man power to clean/save them, Thus saving them more money $$$! It just goes to show you that the only thing these rich f**ks want to save is there wallets... BUT oh well it's just America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The stats don't really look good in the birds favor. Anyone who's ever put a pet down knows how gut wrenching it is. How do you determine if an oil soaked bird or a bird who has ingested oil can survive? You just don't deal with it everyday. I didn't have the guts to put my 15 year old cat down and I watched her suffer greatly in her final days. I swore to the God above that given the decision again, I'd summon the courage to get it done. I don't want to see them suffer. They don't deserve that. If there's no other way, God help us all.
We the people who have taken some much from wild life....like land and now the sea need to be there to help these animals to live. If not we have become worse then just plain murders. We are all GODS creatures big and small!!!
Save the birds, kill the bp executives.
If they can be saved we should do everything possible. Don't just dismiss them like they are not living creatures. It wasn't there fault what happened. But they shouldn't suffer either. We meaning BP should do everything humanly possible to save these birds!!!
Make the BP owners and executives and people in government who didn't make sure there were plans in place to prevent this disaster swim around in the oil sludge and then not clean them up for a while and make them suffer like the innocent wild life until the reality of what they have done has cost!
My God, save them if possible. If the German scientist/biologist don't want to help then stay in your country. These animals deserve a chance and if their studies show only a 1 percent survival rate then perhaps they will live enough to mate and give us more of their breed.
And yes, what if you were the animal and covered with oil...hmmm, I think I'll shoot ya, just because I don't want bothered to try to help....unreal what some of these people come up with.....
I say for every animal they have to put down, also put on BP executive out of their misery..........
What kind of a question is this even? Those birds have done NOTHING to deserve the atrosity that has fallen them. As mankind with, albiet semi-intelligence, I would think the answer would be glaringly simple. You do WHATEVER IT TAKES to give these birds and all animals affected a chance for survival. To hell with the odds!!
I think anyone with such a cold attitute must be a miserable person! They need to try and save as many of these beautiful birds as possible. It's like saying don't save the birds, let the oil flow don't cap it, kill other marine life, don't worry about peoples lives or their dreams. If we don't try to save what BP is killing we are no better than a company who cares about the bottom line more than life itself!!!
Clean them, they didn't choose to be covered with oil! Killing them would be awful!
Save them - they are God's beautiful creatures and they deserve to live. We created this disaster due to our dependence on oil. Let's create more jobs by cleaning them, doctoring them and containing them in a humane environment until the world is safe to release back into the wild...
i deffinatly agree that this is our mess and the birds should not be punished or killed by something humans did, however why is it that one german scientists opinion causes everyone to call him a nazi or bring that up again. im sure if it was an american or anyone else, no one would have brought nazis up( i deffinatly am against nazis by the way.) Everyone here has killed ants or another animal im sure. any kind of bug infestation...? so can we call you a nazi also? thats not right. think about what your saying people. it is deffinatly not ok to kill the birds. but dont call someone a nazi for their idea.
was it the ceo of bp that sold a third of his company shares a month or so before this happened?
lets have him fund the bird and animal and shore cleaning with his spoils, and then but bp out of their misery
What the heck is wrong with America?!!!? Save as many of the animals as possible. I can't believe killing them would even be an option. Typical to try and take the easy way out - it makes me extremely sad and heartbroken.
This is absolutley ridiculous! Look at what is happening to our home just because we are money hungry and oil thirsty. This is something that should of never happened. To give up and let all of these beautiful creatures die over our stupidity is not the answer. America has survied hard disasters before and guess what it was over, oil as well. Get over yourself people and start taking care of what we were given...stop taking advantage over what we have because it is all wasting away, our world is a disaster like this ocean, help these poor innocent creatures who did not ask for this. We can spend billions of dollars to support a war over oil but can't spare to take care of what God has given us. Please help these birds and marine life, I cry inside everytime I see the news about this, what have we done?
I do believe that it is our responsibility as the highly evolved ape that we have become to show some compassion to other living creatures we endanger with our foolishness. I honestly don't understand why we think we are so very high and mighty. We are wrecking havoc on this planet, more so than any other living creature.We truly need to step back and take a long hard look at ourseves people. I am ashamed to be human. Where is our humanity? Kill... Kill... Kill... Well, we are killing our planet and each other... What the heck, who cares about a few birds we did this to in the first place. I have deep concerns for the world your children are growing up in. I am SO thankful I have none.Just another brick in the wall as I see it.
my screen name sucks.....the British finally got their revenge after 234 years of embarrassment of getting beat by the Ones they sent to America!!!! self righteous British scum
no @!$%# that dont kill them, thats inhumane, cleane them, thats what everyone would want, were all part of this earth, why destroy what we can, when were all animals, how would you feel if that was you
We owe it to these animals to try and give them a chance it shouldn't even be a matter of discussion
The birds should only be killed if there is no possible way to save them. There is no sense leaving a bird to die a horrible death if you know that nothing can be done to treat them. As far as ideas on how to "cap" off the oil well... ...we should use a bomb that uses air to explode and lower the item into the shaft and detonate it. This would close the shaft with minimal damage. It seems to me that BP is just trying to make money while "attempting" to seal the oil shaft. Even though this istance is so devestating so many good things will come from it.
Are you kidding me? Kill all those bird`s!!!! I was born and raised in Louisiana. And you are not taking responsablilty for your action`s. In this country if you shot someone, you go to JAIL. What makes you think that BP does not have a obligation to try to save the birds. Save the bird`s don`t kill them because you (BP) have screwed up. That is your fault. TAKE RESPONSABILTY.
As the child of a wild life biologist who worked for the US Government....I guess I was raised with both sides. The rational side of sustaining immediate life for poor countries through the use of their natural resources and adverse outcomes of that. My Father worked very hard to make sure that American Eagles did not perish from this country.
As much as he loved the animals that roam this earth ...he loved me more...and would not have hesitated to sacrifice that last remaining eagle if it meant my life in stead.
Here with the absolutely and undeniably preventable "accident"...there is no doubt in my mind that my father would have told this oil company to go to the devil....they've caused almost irrefutable damage. And now I know we have a great deal of work to do to maybe, perhaps save this precious site. There really is no point in arguing over the "fix"...cause it really can't be. All we have now is the clean and the hope that we can save half.
I agree that mankind caused the problem and we owe it to the animals to try to save them...not kill them.
I believe we should do all that we can to save this birds as well as any other animal affected by this oil spill. This was something that was done by man and man should be responsible without killing the animals. Noboby would be talking about killing if it were children affected by this.
All of the animals should be saved if possible. Perhaps the executives from BP should put on their "big girl panties" and go out and help to save the animals that they are helping to destroy. God gave us all of the creatures to be put in our care. Not to destroy or injure because we are ignorant! BP should have to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to saving the wildlife and the lively hood of the people along the coast. What a terrible waste!
Out of discussion,pathetic people!
Pleeeeeeeeease, please, SAVE these birds!
Everyone keeps forgetting that this isn't a "NATURAL" disaster. Humans did this, not mother nature. So it's our fault for the death of these animals, it's our fault for the destruction of their habitat, and it's our fault for not knowing how to fix it. But killing these birds for something that wouldn't have happened naturally is wrong.
all of the animals should be rescue..its not their fault this happen to them. there for is our responsibility to help them now that they need our help...
I guess when 9/11 happened and things were out of control in NYC, we should just have euthanized the whole city because the people were too bad off to save. Sorry, can't think of anything more ridiculous to say. If there's a tragedy we try to do the best we can for every individual, and years ago we didn't think of women as deserving lives.... we didn't think of slaves as deserving lives... we are just beginning to understand how much our pets actually know and feel... there was a time when we performed surgery on infant humans without anesthesia because "they don't feel pain" .... does anyone recall the anecdote about the little boy throwing starfish back into the ocean? "Hey kid, you can't save them all. It doesn't matter." And the kid said, "but to this starfish it really matters."
The sad commentary is on our response. Shame on us for not being ready to deal with something like this. How dare we think that it is in any way a right to dismiss life of any type. We as a nation of glut and no morals should be so ashamed from our Nations leaders to all of Americans stop bitching and actually start doing!!! President Obama wake up you are killing a nation in so many ways!!!!
I say lets dump oil all over you and your home and then kill you!!! How would you like that! It's a shame that you really think that little of nature and it's beautiful creatures. Your such a worthless piece of garbage if that's really how you feel!
Killing these birds should not even be an opption, it's completey wrong and immoral! It's because of us that these birds are in this situation in the first place, and BP should be the ones trying their hardest to save them. First they destroy there habitat and now they think that these birds are just an inconvenice to them and can be easily disposed of because there going to die anyway...... Face it buddy you're going to die too sometime, but who cares it's another it's just life that can be kicked aside, right?
it would be better to just put them out of their misery
Who are we to say what and who Lives or Dies?? These precious animals live and breathe just like any other animal or creature... It is OUR RESPONSIBILITY as a "WHOLE" to see that these birds are well cleaned and taken care of... Do we let our Loved Ones Die?? Of course not...I say LET THEM LIVE..People who have no feelings for animals, well I say Shame on you!!!!
I beleive that the birds should be cleaned, due to the fact of an oil spill that was indeed (Man Made). but I also see a problem with the falling numbers of wild life under water that concerns me. Their is plenty of technology to clean the water and stop the oil leak, but I see no real big efforts to do any. We need to take a stand and do whats right by helping these poor helpless animals. Considering we're destroying their habitat. and killing our world. Why not do whats right for a change!
those poor birds. why dont you just try helping them al, i mean it is the least you can do for them because were the ones that caused this in the first place! you know that sawn soap that when you by it is says it gives 1 dollar to saving wildlife? well why arent we saving the wildlife? this makes no sense. ive seen the news on and there would be the guy on the camera on the beach talking about the oil spill, and then in the backround you would see some helpless dying bird! why dont you help the poor thing? how would you feel if you were covered in oil and were left there to die or youthinized when you knew that you had a chance at making it. we are humans, and we need to BE human. everyone needs to help eachother and fight for humanity. everyone should try to save our precious wildlife because if we dont come together and do this, thats not what humanity was meant to be.
I think BP should pay to have the birds cleaned. It is not the birds fault, why should they die....
ARE THEY F-ING NUTS??? CLEAN THEM!! *IF* it appears that their internal health is compromised and it is clear that they are having issues and suffering, then I would say to HUMANELY put them down via euthanasia. But, FOR SURE - CLEAN THEM, OBSERVE THEM for as long as necessary, then release them back out to the Gulf - IF THESE IDIOTS EVER GET THIS MESS UNDER CONTROL AND CLEANED UP!!! :( WTF?!?
Clean them. We have only one true mission in life; Do the best we can with what we have all the time.
To bad that these birds, fish and dozens of other species don't have representatives sitting on Obamas cabinet like GMC, CHRYSLER, GOLDMAN SACHS, OIL CARTELS and other unscrupulous big businesses!
If it were your child that got covered in oil ...would you clean? it or kill it? A life is precious: Not something that takes too much effort to preserve. Lazy people prefer to toss it away, and attempt to validate the reason for their acts. I myself would gladly go their and spend endless hours, days months, and years to help save animals and the land and waters affected. Ask a child what they think 0f the question. Then ask an adult. It is a sad world we live in, that this question should even be spoken. The thought of it alone should have brought shame to the owner. FYI if anyone out there has oodles of money but no time to help out and wants to pay my way there and what ever meager expenses necessary for me have food and shelter, I can be ready to go in 24 hours. I require no payment for saving lives, only basic necessities for existence. I will check in to see if their are any offers.
Thats exactly it, if they can be saved then help them, if not its just prolonged suffering.
It isn't our right to kill it is our responsibilty to make right what we have done wrong. Maybe the birds don't have a chance but our actions (human consumption of the earths resources "greed") caused them to be in the situation they are in, we owe each life every life on the planet a chance to survive. Scientist are cold and unfeeling in their views we should never lose sight of humanity in the face of such a tragedy. The birds desreve a chance Louisanna needs to no they can recover taking the birds life takes away another piece of hope!!
We see the commercial for Dove dish soap cleaning an oily bird. That brought tears to my eyes to think a company like Dove would care so much. Now that we are needed on a global scale we should just throw in the towel, I dont think so. Where are there hearts, in there wallets, if you make an error you fix it at all cost you fix it or you die trying. They deserve to live they did not do this. I give many thanks for all the folks and companies and organizations who are trying to help, god bless and may you heal many. xo
Everyone is angered and saddened over the loss of the helpless animals, but how many of these same people ignore the 1.2 Million babies who are aborted each year in the U.S? That is about one baby being killed by it's own mother every 26 seconds...
Why is saving an animal more important than saving a baby?
Clean the birds round up the people who made the decisions that caused this mess and put them out of their misery.
such sadness for the wildlife to drift in to the oil, such an accidental cause to make these animals suffer with this oil problem. No matter what, the people must save all the animal life they can, and not to waste time in doing it to make them suffer, you don't know what these animals are going through, put a human through it and see the differance then maybe people will realize it is to cruel to let them dye. I don't mean it for human life but please save these poor animals, clean them up, don't let them dye, save them.
As a matter or course, cleaning the birds is the right thing to do, alterrnative clean energy from corn, Ethonol makes a lot of sense now.
The animals didn't do this to themselves. Protect them! Let's be real people! Where are your hearts! Clean them, don't kill them. Keep them alive because this impact is going to last A LONG TIME!!!
-Eric
i saw deffinitely SAVE THEM!!!! i mean its obvious! if you know they can be cleaned and be saved, the best thing to do is clean them!! i mean if it was a PERSON, and you had oil spilled on you, would you want to be cleaned or killed??? yea i thought so!! geeeze people these days! so HEARTLESS!!!!!!!! SAVE these poor innocent animals!! do whatever it takes.
What good does anyone find in getting upset. And the finger pointing... The fact is it happened. It cannot be undone. Now the only thing that can be done is everyone work together to make a sad situation better.
This is a message from my 8-year old daughter, Daisy: "Don't kill them! How would you like it if they killed you if you have oil on you?? So please don't kill them! Please try to block the oil or remove it from the water and save the birds. It's their planet too. Please help the birds!"
Would you kill your kids if they were covered in oil? I think not! Save the dam birds. Before long all our wild life will be gone. You people are killing off GOD's creations. Stupid Stupid Stupid question.
SAVE THE BIRDS!!!!
Us humans are the cause of this oil spill...precaution and warnings were ignored about the possible catastrophe that has now become a reality. And now....our wildlife is suffering. So is it fair for us to not only ruin our environment and the home to this thousands species of wildlife and then decide its not even worth it to try and save them!? Its outrageous... it is the least we can do in response to the BP oil incident. When mistakes are made....clean up the mess...and learn from it so it doesnt happen again. Dont leave your mess for someone else to deal with just because you may think its a lost cause...giving up only shows what type of people you are. Knowing that you do everything in your power regardless of the outcome is considered courageous and I appauld those partaking in the relief effort. WILDLIFE SHOULDNT SUFFER FOR HUMAN ERROR. IT SHOULD BE THOSE AT FAULT WHO SUFFER. There are consequences to one's actions...and now its time to face the music.
The people responsible for this should be tried to the full extent of the law.Worst case scenerio they will get fired with a serverance package and then get hired by another company to a six figure salary.
Okay let me begin by saying that the biologist that made this statement needs to be here in Louisiana before she can make that statement. Ms Gaus needs to be present to see the birds and evaluation the situation before stating her opinion.
Next, Waterdog49, President Obama is not at fault for everything that is happening in the U.S. today. Grow Up. and Florida is not the only state hurting. As far as of today, I don't think they are hurting all that much. Florida is looking in the future and seeing what Louisiana and Mississippi is going through and seeing that they MAY be next. Don't jump the gun to fast. Lets not forget the 11 families that lost their family members on day 1.
Tiffany Pippin---Have you ever tried land drilling. Well let me tell you. It is not easy and it is drying up, that is why they went offshore. The oil boom on the land was in the 80s. If you don't believe me just rent episodes of Dallas. It is fiction honey but you will get the general idea.(The only reason I know these things is that my uncle had an land oil rig on his property in the 80s and it is dry now) Why do you think people are stealing copper wiring.
Finally, Ninja8 ----you have made some wonderful points about not bring all these other issues into this problem. My one question is Has the birds told you about their stress? If not, I will bet with the people that are actually taking care of them. My money is on them.
I do think BP CEO needs to quit or somebody needs to fire him or at least get him off the tv. It is so tiring everyday to hear they are trying this or that .....and it fails. At least I know my governor has my back and the people and wildlife and ocean life cover when he fights for our state. THANK YOU GOVERNOR JINDAL
ok, scientist are getting just ignorant! Lets look over the stuff the scientists think of!
1. Go to Mars? Why who the heck cares! We keep finding new creatures here on earth every month! Dummies. We have not even been to the deepest depth of the earth.
2. Build a fussion atom smasher to prove the big bang? DUMB! who cares how the earth was formed find a cure for cancer dumbasses!
3. Starting wars, changing the wars, then to find out no wars have ever ended besides civil wars! duhhhhh!
4. configuring a way to cheat millions of people out of good money to explore places we have already been.
5. convict the innocent and prosecute the witness, and free the villian!
6. Let music turn into pornography on the radio, but kick howard stern off the radio!
7. People always trying to figure time out about something they know nothing about. Like someone saying you should be able to build a house in three days when they never even used a F(*(&*& hammer.
8. What should we do about people, Well thats not for us to judge! but thats why we are where we are today everyone is judging everyone about the stuff they do or have done F(*& jerry springer's need to go back to the High school bathroom.
9. some people should quit lying and speak only to theirselves at all times.
first I would like to say being influenced no longer makes us individuals, so I say we let the american biologists make the decisions on how to deal with the situation. I know those birds deserve there God given chance to survive. I love how humans can never take responsibility for their actions and just sweep the problem under the rug as if it never even happened, it just makes me sick. It must be frightening enough for those birds to be so close to us as is, and we want to kill them. IT'S JUST WRONG!!!!! AND SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!!!!!
Maybe to euthanize them is BP's new way of sweeping the evidence under the rug. I personally believe that BP should no longer exist once this mess is cleaned up. If it takes every dime that BP has to fix the mess. Then so be it. There are a long long list of things that BP needs to take care of. The wildlife and land. The people put out of work because of this mess. That covers so many different aspects. From fisherman, shrimpers, to hotels and restuarants, gift shop owners, grocery stores, the list goes on. I think every animal deserves a fair chance at clean up. Perhaps they will die but every effort needs to be made to save them. The last thing on an animals mind is how many millions can we make if we drill at a certain area. It isnt natures fault. Treat those animals as if they were family BP.
Oh please , Socialism/Communism has done more harm and has wrought more death and destruction then capitalism ever has.
Defitally not, if you were in the water with oil all over you would you want someone to help you or kill you answer that question!? I mean animals need us cause they cant do half of the things that we can like cry for help. Animal are a big part of our life and some of them arent going to be here for long espasilly if you rather kill them then using your time to clean them up.
Lets throw the ones responsible into the mess. They sit back in their high offices thinking about golf. They should soak in the disasater they made, and be held fully accountable. Stupidity is not an excuse for what they did, so don't let them off the hook.
Think of it this way. A relative of yours is laying in a hospital bed with cancer. Your relative has been in pain for the past week, and does not have the ability to communicate. The doctor tells you there is a one percent chance that he/she will survive more chemotherapy and rounds of medicine and leave a normal life and a 99 percent chance he/she will carry more pain and illness with them until they eventually die. Now picture your relative as one of the birds. Are you so sure that you know the right way to deal with this? Dont think that people come to these decisions lightly. Im not an expert on birds, nor am I saying that we should kill the birds, but maybe there death would be less painful for them. Experts should be determining the answers to these questions, not bloggers. What do we know? Sure some of us may have some insight on the situation, and no one should want to hurt animals, but we're not the ones you should be looking too for answers.
Its evident this sicko who wrote this.. was paid a handsome bag of laundry. Who the hell in their right mind would suggest such an idea (to kill these birds). Firsty this does not address the root problem which at all costs BP is trying to evade (and so will continue to plague the environment for as long it continues to spill- and if you've read into the words carefully enough, you'll decode that this article is actually saying that this spill will rage on for a Long..... Long time and infact get worse as suggested by professions). What does it take to get people angry enough to do something rather than chat, and sult about it (when will the masses see there power to stop this madness rather than look to the government) . Seocndly: this is obviously meant to ensue distractive emotions.... Of all things, that is the most sickening.
Its time we, the people use our motivation of anger and disgust and do something about this problem, Forget the government and our "free media".... They've printed in bold blocks that they have no interests in our desire and its time we stop waiting for what will certainly never come. Such an evironment does not exist, and this disaster is a clear picture of that. Where only powerless because we still believe the government should and will do things. Remember that doing is different from talking and as of now were all induced in talk the talk. Lets get real people and adapt to the circumstances and leave this realiance on government...
Okay, you should just clean the birds. Killing them would have no effect, and who knows, maybe you could put a certain bird into extinction. These birds could possibly be perfectly fine if you clean them off. You should try to clean a couple, and if that doesn't work, then let them die natural.
I think that this is sick, if I could I would help clean those birds, they deserve the chance to live which was taken from them by BP. I believe that this shows their true colors, they would've sealed it right away if they even remotely cared about our wildlife! All they care about is profit and their fuel it doesn't matter to them what they kill in their process of making money. If you can afford to pay off people to overlook things, you can afford to seal this! It is all BP's fault that OUR animals who have done absolutely nothing wrong are dying slow and horrible deaths. I don't know about anyone else but I will never ever use BP EVER!! They should never be used again after this.
Those greedy ass humans care nothing more than money! It sickens me that already tons of animals are dead and they have the nerve to ask if we should not save them? @!$%# off BP, it our job to save these animals, if they could @!$%#in speak human, they would beg us to save them, Hello! there animals and they cant fend and speak for them selves! I hope that stupid president and the others in BP go to prison for a very long time! @!$%#in losers!!!
Please do what You can do to save them! God put them here and We NEED to do what we can to help them! PLEASE!
i believe that the scientists that don't believe in helping helpless animals should not be able to seek medical attention themselves. these animals did not ask to have their body covered in oil. people should honestly think about things before they let their statistics rule their decisions. think of how many people get told they might only live for a few days but get to live years after. everything deserves a chance. it is wrong to take that away from the birds because these scientists don't want to waste their time of day to help protect and cure what God has given us.
In case the 20 comments I read are different, people should really learn to read. The author is for cleaning and saving the birds that it is possible to save. They are just pointing out other opinions and previous oil spill responses. That is not to say he is for killing them; in fact he is for cleaning them and attempting to save them. I do however agree with many of the comments in saying make it a paying job for the people this disaster has misplaced and robbed of their income; and hell yeah BP should pick up the bill.
you clean those birds now!! we got them into this mess well really BP got them into this mess so now you must clean up after yourselves seriously people it's frightining to think tht people would go to such lengths just to save a step take the extra step clean up after yourselves and get to bussniess im tired of hearing about the sea life dying in the gulf and how the fishers and clamers dont have anything to depend on cap those spills and try not to make the same mistake twice
kill em all, put em out of their misery, they're just suffering anyway and no telling what cancers the oil will cause the birds or us humans for that matter. They'd be doing the Earth a good deed there fore God wouldnt be angry with it.
Everything should be done to save all the wildlife that is affected by the oil spill. Responsibility needs to be taken and these animals are unfortunate victims of a horrible accident that should have never happened. The people who are trying to save these animals should do everything in their ability to save every animal.
save those damn birds. They are God's creation and their lives should not be taken because of some dumb human's mistake. my heart aches when i see these photos.
First of all I say save all of the Birds, Turtles, Manatees, Whales, Oysters, Shrimp, Krill, Plankton etc. that we can. I do think that the BP "suits" should be down and dirty with this clean up. But, let it be known that BP is not the only bad guy in this. Every one of us that relies on that oil coming from the Gulf is guilty also. We have the choice of drilling more holes in this planet to satisfy our gluttony for energy or we can find better ways. I don't recall any animal or human being harmed by a solar panel. Wind power with the proper precautions is also an option. Think about this the next time ONE person gets in their Hummer to drive to the store for a loaf of bread. Face it, we are nothing but a virus on this rock, and we are KILLING IT!!! The animals are inocent and should be saved.
You mean, I am sure ..only kill them if they can NOT be saved. Is cleaning the oil from their eyes and nostils part of the process? Because if it is not them they will suffocate from inhaling the oil and blind from the oil in their eyes. Ever get suntan oil in your eyes? It blurs everything. You need a ton of saline solution to get it out........so are their eyes being cleaned as well so they can see to fly again or they will crash into something they can not see!!!!!!!
these birds and all other wildlife need to be SAVED!! They need to be bathed in soap, which is easy as hell to come by...seriously people, this should not even be a question!
I can't believe how many people are trying to compare birds to humans in these responses. Its such a shame and very sad that this has happened to these creatures, but come on people... if they are going to die anyway, why waste our money and time on a bird? What should happen, is whoever the person or group of people who was in charge of this "accident" should be thrown in the oilly water themselves and let the birds and fish that they are torturing eat them alive!! Hope I wasn't too harsh, but I believe in the eye for an eye method... and don't feel birds should be compared to humans. While they are cute and part of nature, you also don't see anyone throwing a human in the oven for a few hours on Thanksgiving day and letting the family feast on every human part. Am I right or am I right.... or am I right? :)
I believe we should do our best to help save these birds... They didint ask to be dringed in oil and if we can help them.. I am all for it! I would help clenup if i had to!
First of all, I dont know why people are arguing with one another, what does that solve? Yes humans as it was put did cause this horrible thing to happen but secondly, it shouldnt be kill or save, the role of humanity is to be kind and take care of one another and that includes the animals that share this planet with us. Now my opinion is to help the ones that can be helped but try to help them all, but sometimes when it comes down to it, helping someone or something that cant be helped is to help it go in peace and to make sure that there isnt any pain. in saying this those poor animals should be cleaned either way, and if it is seen that they wont make it , than they should be spared the pain of suffering. its the humane thing to do.
It would be more productive to kill the BP executives, confiscate their corporate and private property, and use the funds to create a restoration program for the Gulf.
I say clean the birds and try, I agree we caused, or i should say bp caused this the right thing to do is clean the birds, it dosnt matter if only 1 survives, it needs to be done along with what ever other havoc will come of this, As for a lesson learned how many lessons do humans need, but they still keep making the same mistakes at the price of others wether human , animal or the planet..SAD
Its appaling to claim that the German scientist who made this recommendation is a so-called 'nazi'. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion even if you and I don't agree.
Clean the birds and kill the NAZI's, or is that Germans. Sounded lot like the NAZI's of the WWII, just kill the Jews. What is with the Germans and killing innocent life? Birds are our neighbors and companions, as with all life on this planet. Every life has meaning and we all rely on one another, by killing the birds we are killing a part of the eco system. We need the help of the birds and other life forms long after we clean up the oil.
Would the Germans say the same if this disaster happened in their front yard? No, they will be begging and crying for help from International community.
"Today's numbers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other groups involved in the cleanup show that 413 oiled birds have been collected alive, and 594 dead birds have been picked up. Of all those birds, only 39 have been released back into the wild."
Who are the idiots that are letting them BACK into the wild? Of course survival rates are low, you're throwing them back into the same crap you just cleaned off of them! Asking them nicely to fly over to Hawaii for a few years isn't going to work, they don't speak Moron.
You mean round them up in a confined area and instead of showering them off we kill them ?....
hmmmm..........Deja Vu !
I would like to say, please don't let them drill in our Arctic ocean, I would hate to see that happen up here in our "garden" as my elder uncle Wesly Aiken quoted " Arctic ocean is my garden". Say "no" to Arctic ocean drilling. I feel for the devastated disaster down in the gulf and my feelings are hurt to see what has happen. Some of our Alaskan fellows may say our ocean is different but its not true, it maybe weather difference and maybe cold. I am so against Shell oil who are trying to do off shore exploration, which is going to effect our way of live up in two Arctic oceans.
I feel sincerely compelled to state our need as a humanitarian society to give every effort, (regardless of the statistics) to provide the utmost care and restoration efforts available to sustain the lifespan of all endangered and depraved animals and fish effected by this human tragedy. I further beg the powers that be to continue in their relentless search, and rescue efforts of these innocent victims that live to sustain our ecosystem and remind us of our innate responsibility to our world, and all who inhabit it. It is a social Justus that must be kept regardless of circumstance. For such a thoughtless loss and disregard will only grow in reflection of those who are in need of the cleanliness and of the land and life-sustaining chances we are given as PEOPLE every day. Without our wildlife, and it’s ‘ecosystem” we will surely and slowly dissolve just we did before human intervention was possible, therefore negating all advances in research and development we as a society have achieved.
In Closing, I hope the love and understanding of how one saves another will be rejoiced and renewed through these tragic circumstances, with jobs. I know we are absolutely capable of being such the saviors we are all meant to be. This is how we will grow together with comfort and an economical solution based system of wildlife Welfare for all of the Earth’s inhabitants including ourselves.
In a time where most unemployed workers cannot afford the gas to get to work, or the repairs for their used cars, there has to be a solution somewhere within the Governmental Control policies. I envision a governmental control and sanction of the oil companies .
With this in mind, and oil companies separate from free enterprise, we could initiate the furthering of solar and other green alternatives, with respect to all older model vehicles that hold tremendous value, as well as the low income individual that can not afford to purchase the green vehicles. A second step in this needed transformation would be subsidies and provided to the lower income nation. If we could institute programs wherein the moneys gained were invested into programs to alleviate the choice less impoverished with grants for new green cars, the solution we face will have been an actual starting point to separate ourselves from the oil. This Independence as we work united towards the goal of an eco free fuel sustainment could promise no further danger to our life on Earth.
This could all come from this current crisis. There is a way to end this madness, but it must start with appropriate controls and the proper compensation needed to complete this process. Most Americans will not give up what they have invested in without a known USA government that can and will sanction and re-direct this movement to start from them… from the bottom…where it is MOST needed every day when a single mother tries to get gas money to take her children to school. If that single mother qualifies for a green vehicle through governmental assistances, she will take it, and so on and so forth.
The only question I see, is how could our president gain governmental control of the oil companies to appropriate these life saving actions.
gaetanomarano, Is your only concern whether you get paid for offering the obvious answer to this crisis? Most of us would offer free gratis any idea that would put an end to this man-made disaster. "Use a bigger cap" doesn't sound to me like an "invention."
As to the birds, of course our best hope would be to clean them all. And what about all the other species doomed to die....sea otters, nutria, sea turtles, etc.? And what about the birds that, once cleaned, are returned to the "wild" where they got oiled in the first place? To what are they being returned?
i say we eat them birdies
Yes, just euthanize them all. It's the best thing to do. How many chickens are killed daily? Yeah, they didn't deserve to have oil stuck on them, but it's really not worth it to spend all the time and money to save them. Their population will not be effected long term. Let's not make these "jobs" as "proof" of Obama's "stimulus"
I am no longer suprise by some of the statements I read, this disaster was man made, when will we as a people defend our wildlife instead of destroyed it easily without remorse
these birds should be saved at any cost
With a 1% final survival rate can we really justify the expenditure of resources? I love animals but there comes a point where you are prolonging suffering for no justification.
Well, this is a typical reaction from the Germans isn't it? Annilation of a species?
Our addiction to oil is the problem!! We can move to much more greener sources of fuel but why don't we? The media need to post, post and post the pictures of oil-soaked wildlife to send Americans and others the images of the devastation in the Gulf. We need to let the government know that we need to rely on different sources of energy.
Look at far we have come from the days of renting a rotary telephone from Ma & Pa Bell to buying a new iphone with every updated version. We need incentives (government and private enterprise) for solar, wind and electric power.
Very heartbreaking situation! Makes me cry every day! Try to save as many as possible and do put the ones beyond rescue out of their misery :( Humanity is to blame so we do owe it to the poor innocent animals to help them!
Can we kill the humans instead?
Amen!
James-1867611- What on earth makes you think that those rallying to save our wildlife would also be rallying for abortion? Save a bird but kill a baby? Don't really see the reasoning behind your comment..
It's in this case of situation that this hard choice appears :
Of these 2 solutions, wich one can be considerate as the most "human" :
-Kill them refering to studies considerate as "mostly serious" studies to avoid them suffer more longer
or -Try to save them without forget that there are some possibilities that this action will only give them a little "bonus time" of life...
Are you kidding me?? You can actually ask the question, should we kill them or save them! We caused this horiffic incident and we owe it to the wildlife that we have harmed. Of course if there are birds suffering that can not be saved then I understand the need to put them out of thier misery but we need to STOP walking away from the disasters that we humans create with our modern day crap! We are ruining our world as we kill off its beauty.
"We're living in uncomfortable times, and some politicians around the country seek to play on this fear by asking for an immigration freeze and fences around our borders," Morales said. "We have to take action to speak out against erosion of basic and fundamental human rights whenever this happens."
This was printed in an article regarding Arizona boycott... this is soo true of animal rights as well. This erosion to our coastal areas is a symbol of our priorities becoming more and more out of balance with nature. How can we even think of anything but doing what is right? When are we going to start turning the tide and bring a wave of well being for all living creatures. Would you want to be saved? Would you want your children saved?
let's clean them
The real question to ask is under what circumstances we should kill the acting management of BP
WE did this to these birds and if theyre lives can be saved we should try. Dont just kill them with out even trying to help them!!!
We should definitely take care of these animals...at least give them a chance for survival. We send trillions of tax payers dollars to everyone in this world (even those who hate us) and we can't pay people who are out of work to take care of these poor creatures. Unbelievable. The administration ought to be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to go on so long. Send down people to at least start something, bill BP and ban them from drilling in our waters until the TOTAL debt is paid back. And they say gas will go up to $5.00 a gal? Once again the American taxpayer will be paying for this and still making outrageous profits for them. Thank you Congress....
I can't believe you people are even asking such a question. All the wildlife that have been affected by this catastrope should all be cleaned up. why should they be killed, they are living, breathing creatures just like we are. All out efforts should be performed to save their lives, they are the innocent victims in this mess.
Ummm .....what has capitalism to do with this? Consumerism I'll go with...but nothing is capitalistic about offshore drilling in the USA .....the government didn't protect us from this....they did try to regulate it and socialism again failed. America is too big a place to walk everywhere....we need better fuel choices but until that happens we best just do a better job of regulating.
If we have an Oil Addiction, then we also have an oxygen addiction. We need oil.
It depends on the cleaning. If you are saving maybe 10%, then some are still going to die after being cleaned, Then leave the poor things alone. It is not worth putting them through that for so few lives.
Anyone crying about oil, you need to toss all your plastics, most clothes, medicines, your car, your house, You might as well kill yourself. You cannot live, without oil.
There are other ways to survive. Oil isn't a damn necessity; to say it is is just ignorant.
These birds are living things. Killing them isn't going to solve any problems. I don't care what the chances of survival are, try to clean the poor things first.
Humans caused this problem, now it's up to humans to fix it, and killing them is not only wrong, but it's lazy, irresponsible, and cruel.
We caused this we should do everything we can to fix it, especially helping these poor animals that cant help themselves out of this crappy situation we created!CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN!!!
It is our responcibility to clean@save all of these animals@birds that have been poisoned by this horrible spill they certainly didnt ask to be poisoned or there food poisoned too God has given us these beautiful creatures to take care of es well as protect how dare any one even think of just kiiling them its probably the same people who are responcible for the oil spill that by the way is still going on
It is tragic but humaine to put the sickest down but a better point might be made if we sent the remains to BP coporate headquarters and drop they on thier door step. What kind of statement would that make with a few hundred birds, after all we are cleaning up their mess, heck send some tarballs as well let the company see some of their damage. Add a note saying had a wounderful time wish you were here.
I am not an animal lover, but it made me sick when I read the question, "Clean the birds, or kill them?" They are a part of God's creation and should be saved! I wouldn't want anyone to kill me because I have oil on me. SAVE THE BIRDS!
Triage. Obviously if the injured bird would not survive even with the cleaning, then unfortunately euthanasia will be a final option. But any bird who can survive this human-caused mess, should be given our help.
Boy, we humans make humongous mistakes sometimes.. We are too fallible to get it right every time.
unfortunitly the carrying copasity of these apex animals( ones on the top of the food chain) is close to maxed out. when the enviroment was healthy the animals reproduced to a lavel that there food supply alowed. with the enviroment distrotred there food is gone there chances to survive is minimal at best. if you move the poor creatures to a healthy enviroment if they can compeet with the resident population they will endanger the local food supply making more creatures at risk. if we clean the damage ,the population s of animals will eventualy return as nature alows. feel sorow for the effected. spend your time money and effort to save the land . when the wopers return in the fall we may need to save them but are common wildlife will return when the land will alow them.
So we work hard to clean the birds, hoping that they have not preened their oil-soaked feathers (in which case they've been poisoned internally and will probably die whether cleaned or not). Then we have to figure out where to release them so they don't get oil soaked again. What is BP gonna do -- send them up to Lake Michigan or to the Everglades, or to Baja Mexico?
If BP / humanity cared about the wildlife, they would've spent $500k on a functioning blowout preventer.
KILL THEM? Is it their fault man has once again ruined another natural habitat?
Pretty soon the onlyplace we are going to se any kind of wildlife is in a zoo or hanging on some sickos wall.
Maybe we can kill the trained professional that made this suggestion, less tears will be shed.
what right do you have to kill these creatures??? just because of stupidity on the humans end does not mean you have the right to kill those animals. these creatures are the ecosystem, food chain, and some are close to extinsion!!!! SAVE THEM.
surprizing that when haiti happened, authorities jumped on it the same day, but when something happens in your own country......where are they?
All it takes is a little time and some liquid dish soap to clean the birds off...take the time. They are living things and deserve to live, they weren't the ones to spill the oil. Kill those who caused the oil spill, obviously they don't care enough or we wouldn't have this problem.
I agree. If there is at all possible to keep them alive, take the time to clean them up. The oil industries need to realize the problems that they have caused because of this spill. The Government needs to find alternative ways for energy. If they want things out in the ocean, put Wind Mills. They will collect the energy and not do harm to the environment.
I agree. take the time to clean and help these birds. Its humans that caused this entire mess, we owe it to these poor animals to try and help them. This is such a horrible devistating thing that has happened to our ecosystem.
everyone needs to take responsibility.
Sarah, animal lover, Ginger, I assume then that you're on your way, right now, to the nearest pound to adopt every single animal that will be killed tomorrow.
Good for you guys! You're the best!
Respectfully submitted.
"Sarah, animal lover, Ginger, I assume then that you're on your way, right now, to the nearest pound to adopt every single animal that will be killed tomorrow."
Greg-281912... what a jackass. That was a pretty heartless comment. I agree, the animal shelters are overcrowded, and people need to have their pets spayed or neutered - but its a bit of a different situation with these birds... This is their habitat that is being destroyed, and they should not be out-right killed because of these @!$%#s at BP....because their 'home' is being destroyed. Every living thing in the Gulf is being destroyed as a result of these idiots...sea turtles, fish, dolphins, the pelicans, etc. I really hope you're a little more of a compassionate person than your post indicated. If not, that's pretty sad.
Sara & Ginger I agree What a Jackass!!! I need not say more he has pretty well said it himself and shown HOW big a a ASS he is :)
just dump oil on that german and lets do that to him and see what he says. stupid basterd.
Exactly! i truely agree with you.
jerk!
The real bastards are the ones who spilled the oil. I say make BP pay for the clean up of the birds if they can be saved.
i say its not the birds fault they didnt ask for this clean them up save their lives! grow the f**k up and take rsponsiabilty for you'r actions!!!
It hurt me to my heart to see our state bird that way. It doesn't hurt to clean them up even if they want live that long.
Last summer we spent a week at the beach in Galveston with our 4 year old grandaughter. To her great delight we would watch the brown pelican's fly by on the way to their nesting area every evening. We would love to have more of these wonderful birds in Texas. Maybe there's a way to get them here away from the oil--or even further south to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge.....sad, sad, sad.
Kill BP Oil.
Since BP Oil is a group of people who are you intending to murder first. You need to think before you write such a stupid comment.
I agree Harrietta1
how could you say that, kill an animal? what the HELL is wrong with you? try being covered in oil and you have no why of trying to clean yourself because your surrounded by oil. you think you would want someone to decide weather you should live or not? psssh. think about it.
Unfortunately I think Harrietta1 has doomed herself/himself. Unless they are living under a rock, they have used BP products and therefore by default would be an accomplice. (oil, gas, plastic, etc is BP the company)
Listen these birds aren't the problem. The problem is the oil. Nothing else should have time and money spent on it unless its to fix the oil situation. BP defiently says they are doing everything they can. They are so full of @!$%#. This is the big chance for Obama to proove himself as a president who is dedicated on change. Fix something that needs fixing, instead of fixing something that doesn't want to be fixed or doesn't need to fixed. This is directly effecting Americans, so step in and do something about it now without asking permission of congress. Just do what needs to be done and stop just talking about a plan of action.
Save the birds and anything else that can be saved. God would want us to.
Clean the birds! Do what ever you have to do to get the money. Save as many animals as you can! Ask for donations! Talk to congress and senate to act fast on help with cleaning up the gulf coast and getting others back to work. If they can't fish then pay them to help clean the environment up and give them what they would have made fishing...
I'm also sure there are plenty of people (like myself) who would volunteer their time and Soap to clean some birds. Its the golden rule...do unto others as you want done unto you. I'm sure if we were all covered in oil we would want to be cleaned off too.
you have a good idea there. pay the fishermen. Doubt of they will get paid the way they were when fishing. Yes, it would help to clean all the birds. Dont kill them. We need them here. There s a reason why they are here. The birds I mean.
It breaks my heart. Cleaning and sending the birds and back to the oil saturated gulf is cruel. We have already proved we are a stupid, greedy, species, we can at least have the decency to limit some of the suffering we have caused.
If there is an animal that is dying, and you have a chance to save it, do it. If you leave it to die, you should be charged with animal cruelty or some type of charge because you are SICK. Any beach will most likely have a shower station to wash off any sand that is on you. Why not go over to the hotel your staying at (if your staying at one), get some dish soap, bring the bird to the outdoor shower, and wash it off? My resolution to the oil spill is: use as many machines at once as you can to stop the spill. Once it's stopped, get airplanes, boat, helicopters, ANYTHING to sift through the water to get the oil out. Then, once the oil is gone, DESTROY THE FREAKING OIL PUMPS THAT ARE IN THE OCEAN. The pumps should be on land in an enclosed area. Atleast if another pump breaks, it wont spread through the whole country. It might spread through the whole world because it's in the OCEAN. If it's on land, where it's enclosed, not much harm could be done to the enviroment. The leak could also be fixed much faster, because it wouldnt flow through water.
This is just sad, and thats all I have to say about that.....
just like i blogged yesterday. set up freshwater showers for the rare birds in their habitat.. they could at least hose off and clean themselves..it would create some jobs..send the fishermen out with water to replenish the pump tanks...that would help since it doesnt rain there constantly..just an idea. and stop blaming bp. i am sure they didnt blow their own rig up so they could suffer massive losses .. we need to learn and make better our safety regulations..thats it ..just do it right..it should never happen again.
Actually, it is BP's fault, they reportedly had over 700 safety violations in the last ten years, so they were just asking for a huge disaster.
This is a really difficult debate but it brings tears to my eyes to think about it. I guess I say error on the side of humane treatment and if these birds have a survival rate at all we should do our duty to try to fix the mess that we humans have made.
Silvia Gaus is heartless and ignorant and so is anyone else who doesn't feel the need to at least try to help these innocent victims of our greed. The sea mammals, fish and birds who have been poisoned and killed by BP's incompetence (not to mention the thousands of families affected in the Gulf) deserve a little compassion. I don't care how much Dawn it takes...we (as a race) covered them in oil and we need to clean them and release them if at all possible.
I could not agree more!
I agree with LBC in SB, we did this, now it is our resposibilit to do everything posible to make it right, no matter how "pointless" some may think it is. If these were human beings soak in oil and fighting for their lives, would we just leave them to die?? I would certainly hope not. No living thing deserves this. I am from the Tampa Bay area in Florida, and i am just waiting to see what will happen next. You better believe that when the oil reaches the shores near me, i will be out there trying to save everything i can. And i hope that will be the case with everyone who lives in the states this is effecting, even other states and countries. This is a WORLD disaster. It's not going to stay in the gulf, it will be taken other places on the currents and kill things thousands of miles away. Everyone is worried about tourism in florida and the other states, well i say keep your plans to visit them, but while your here, role up your sleeves and help a little too. Even just a day or two. Be part of the action, the manifestation to help fix what has been done. This is something that will be remembered for years and years to come, your childrens, childrens, children will hear of this, and hopefully will never have to experience anything like it. And support wind, solar and other alternative, clean, safe energy sources from here on out!!!!! Lets break this "oil addiction" once and for all, so this never happens again.
If we can save the birds .. save them i am sure you can find animal groups that would be willing to do this DO NOT kill them if they can be saved
I know what you're tying to say. IN fact, I kno what everyone means when they suggest to hose them up. However, it is also nto a secret that exposure to such extent of toxic iol will do anybody's health bad. Thos ebirds are suffereing, you will not know that because they won't speak to you, but they are. Imagine being ioled down. You're body would be boiling and it would feel extremely burned, how would you feel if you go on living, but suffering? If I have to choose, I would rather just be euthanized rather than have to live a life I want to very badly escape.
I agree when you said that if they can be saved, save them. However, most of the birds have been already exposed to the oil for far more than 24 hours that the chances of them surviving is very close to zero. It would be inhumane to let them suffer and not do anythign about it. Even if they clean them up, it won't help anymore.
I agree with Gongju, These birds are suffering terribly. We don't have enough people to wash every single one of them because while you may be saying "No wash them! How would you like it if we spilled oil on you and killed you!?"
1. Like Gongju said almost all of these birds have been exposed for FAR more than 24 hours and their chance of survival is close to nothing.
2. You are doing NOTHING. Are YOU going to help clean these animals and then watch them as they continue to suffer from the toxic oil? No I didn't think so. Go back to playing on your facebook and STFU.
haha, love to Angry Jane Doe. Everyone's gotta have an opinion and get all self-righteous even when they themselves don't do @!$%# about it. Bunch of hypocrites. And what are people thinking bringing the Holocaust and Nazi Germany into this???
I'm sure most of these people don't care that we kill countless of animals in horribly brutal ways every day so that everyone can have fastfood hamburgers and live in the suburbs. Seriously, do as Angry Jane Doe says and go back to playing on your facebook.
Still, I agree that we should save them if at all possible.
How ridiculous. While we're at it, why don't we euthanize the CEO's of BP and put US out of OUR misery. Or better yet, why doesn't the government get everyone of those %*@%^&* down there and tell them to start cleaning all the animals who are suffering.
Amen Vickie
Totally agree with Vicki. Tony Hayward and your cronies: get your arses out there and start cleaning some birds- you wankers!
GO VIKKI and SIKND! Get those selfish BP pigs down there.....I agree....and let them DO SOMETHING to help. I have cried a little every day since this stupid thing happened 49 days ago. I was crying in Starbucks, for God's sake on Saturday morning looking at the headlines while I waited for my coffee. This pelican was on the front page of the NY Times and I swear he was literally screaming because he couldn't fly; couldn't get off the water.....heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking. And EFC05 is right.....this is a permanently damaging disaster that our earth may not recover from....and certainly not in our lifetime!!
its simple clean up your mess bp! ! we did not ask you to be cheap cut corners and we did not ask someone
from germany for his crappy ideas.its time to take a stand save the birds and all sealife they did not ask for this.
I don't agree- all life is precious. Yes, some won't make it- but those which do can be relocated to other sanctuaries.
Some of those pelicans are on the danger list so all efforts should be made.
Ongoing rehabilitation efforts on going now are ramping up- we don't want a "final solution" idea to damp the efforts made by hundreds of volunteers and vets.
As a college student looking at graduating in December it kills me to hear people in the profession that I love say to let the birds die. We are the cause of this stupid accident because of our greed for money and power. We owe it to the wildlife to help them live and to reclaim the area of water and land that is going to be lost. For someone to say "just put them out of their misery" is extremely apalling! Yes I do understand that not all of them can or could be saved, but to give up on the ones that have even a 1% chance is unethical and you have no right to call yourself a biologist.
As a wildlife professional for more than 10 years, I have to disagree with you a little. This whole situation makes my stomach turn, but it is extremely unethical to prolong the suffering of an animal simply for our own selfish desire to "help". Handling is extremely stressful to wildlife, even handling with the intention of helping. Stress negatively affects immune response and the ability of animals to recover from injury. And rehab in this case is much more than simply rinsing with soap and water as some posters have stated. Contamination of this type can lead to neurologic problems, digestive system failure, and a host of other issues. I would rather euthanize an animal than watch as organ systems slowly fail and it dies a slow death. You have to pick your battles, and put your efforts towards those with the best chance. You give everything you have to save the ones you can, but don't prolong the suffering of the ones you can't. The sad and harsh reality is that most of these animals can't be saved, and that's why more effort needs to go into preventing and avoiding these "accidents" ahead of time. Once the damage is done, it's almost impossible to fix after the fact.
I agree with Montana Wildlife. Sometimes the humane thing to do is put them down
Thank you Montana Wildlife for the first intelligent post here. I am a veterinarian and I agree wholeheartedly with your thinking. Most people do not understand the long term effects of oil exposure so it is easy to think that some Dawn dish soap is the answer. And to many of the other posters saying that 10 out of 100 birds is worth fighting for, the article said 1%, that's 1 per cent, 1 in 100. The odds are not in their favor. Save the ones you can but keep in mind that scrubbing these birds clean may be the crueler of the two options.
It simple - we owe it to them - This is not the Bird's doing
Lori, you're not listening, Of course we all feel guilty for what the birds and wildlife are enduring. Once something major like this happens we as humans want to rectify the suffering of the animals by trying to clean them and put it right. Unfortunately we cannot ease our guilt or their suffering. It takes several days to save one bird. First they have to be warmed, fed, and if they are strong enough it takes almost 8 hours to scrub the bird. After all that stress and fear and illness, most die from our good intentions. All to ease our guilt for something we depend on. Its not fair, but guilt aside, isn't it more humane for them to be put to sleep then die a long painful death?
I think it was our fault (humankind) and we should at least give the birds a fighting chance.
EXACTLY... why would you kill innocent birds? it's not they committed murder in the first degree or anything
This biologist in Germany needs to STAY in Germany !
Yes I agree! That biologist needs to keep her comments to herself
what a lot of ignorant answers there are here. but that's ok, i suppose you know what's better for the animals than a biologist.
at what point, exactly, as an animal struggles in agony with a tiny tiny chance of survival, is it ok to say it is time to put it down?
i agree completely with saving anything with a fighting chance, and doing all that is possible for them! but there is absolutely no point in dragging on the inevitable death of the ones that are too badly damaged.
Kittykat,
Finally someone understands and doesn't want to see these (already dieing) birds suffering when we can do the humane, morale thing and put them peacefully down.
Come on people, have none of you put your sick old dog or cat to sleep to save them the pain and misery they are going through? none of you?
Sometimes the hardest decisions we have to make are out of love.
I applaud them for being humane in trying to save as many lives of the birds that they can. But why would you save their lives then turn them back out into the wild where they are more than certain to get dunked in the oil AGAIN? These animals all need to be kept in a sanctuary until the danger of the oil will not effect them. They are going to go back where they came from, their home that is now not safe for them. But they don't understand that. We need to keep them safe or you will be cleaning and saving the same birds over and over.
Tell BP to quit playing around with our eco system and get the oil leak stopped. This would be the best news any of us could have.
PJ's rationale is correct. Why clean the birds only to have them exposed to the same problem again? In addition, by placing them in some sort of sanctuary, there will be solid numbers of animals that have been affected. The numbers are important because guess what BP will say when the whole thing is a memory and the lawyers are racking up their bills? That's right, they will say that the number of animals affected was lower than whatever is ultimately reported because there was no "inventory" taken of the animals. They will probably even say that many animals were counted twice, three times or more. You know they will do whatever it takes to minimize their losses/maximize their profits. If the birds can't be placed in a sanctuary, then we are all likely playing into BP's hands by cleaning them and releasing them back to the wild. If a sanctuary isn't a possibility, it is probably better to euthanize them and keep them in a freezer to present to BP officials when they have their day in court to meet justice.
Someone needs to go to Jail.
Jail is to good for the people who did this to our wildlife. however they will get off easy in comparison.
You're very right, they almost always get off easy. If I had more money in my pockets I'd volunteer my time to help these poor animals. It's ridiculous, that some people are saying let them die. When one thing is for sure these animals if they knew how to get out of this on their own, would do so and would seek to stay alive.
yeah, Obama
How about the execs at BP as well as the engineers and safety inspectors of the rig--put them out of their misery!!!
My father was chosen to go on this mission to clean the oil up for the state of Fish and Game, and his friends work in the center to clean the animals up, i say SAVE THEM. They never did anything to us, so why kill them for nothing they did? And thats just cruel to kill them if they have a chance of suvival. All it takes is good srcubbing, a warm habitat, and some medication so they can get right back up on their feet. This "Silvia Gaus thinks she knows about animals but apparently NOT. So therefore i say go to Hell to Silvia Gaus.
TOTALLY AGREE !! how wouls this person feel if he/she drank oil by mistake and the doctors just kill her/she instead of trying to she their life?? She/ he should just go straight to hell for even thinking mutch less saying something like this...
Disney is NOT real !!!
Birds do not have any idea of what is going on. Their minds are too tiny to feel hope.
Bird are more terrified of people cleaning them.
To put yourself in the bird simple minded place...
Pretend you have the swine flu and cancer. Would you welcome some alien that abducted you? How would you feel about the when the alien pulls out the anal probes and dissects you then puts you back together while you watch. I bet you would prefer to die...especially if it ws a cure that only worked 1% of the time.
i.e. the bird has no idea you are trying to help and what you are doing is extremely uncomfortable and a personal touching violation similar to rape (especially as most birds are prey animals for animals smaller than humans).
Ok first of all YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT. THis lady i bet had never been in the faciclity so she wouldnt know, and i bet she looked up this percentage up on the internet and followed this, made a statement just to stir things up. SHe doesnt know what goes on in the state and so she is very INFACT stupid. Most of the time scietist dont have an idea unless they expirament and this person i bet never even checkd the facility out so therefore she has no idea what she is talking about. And my father KNOWS what the percentage is. SO SHUT THE &%$# UP.
Kill BP Oil. Make their execs get in the water and clean up the mess.
i flipin agree, what the hell are they doing in our back yard any way?
clean them and send the bill to the bush family!!!!
We caused these innocent birds and sea creature the pain they are now in, we owe it to them to help them through our mistakes. Nature has a balance-humans are like spoiled brats who are hell bent on killing this delicate balance. I like the response -send the bill to the Bushes-dumb and dumber.
What does the Bush family have to do with it? Obama and his "pals" aren't doing much themselves.
Are you retarded! What does Bush have to do with this. Another nut job. We just had a tornado warning yesterday where I live, its Bush's fault. I heard some old woman got ran over walking across the street the other day-its Bush's fault. You're nuts.
As far as the birds go, we should do everything we can, this nut job needs to get his/her head out of his/her you know what! The Clinton's had money in oil also. Are you for real?
Your as stupid as the board of directors of BP. If Bush would have been chasing wepons of mass distructions that didnt exist and pay attention to all the greedy CEO's of this country our economy and this mess were in might have just been a good science fiction movie. However its reality. And the Obama comment ignorance is upon you again. What the hell you want Obam and his admin to do dive down there and cap the well. I cant talk to you any more I hate ignorant people.
Are you serious Leon? Bush got blamed for 911 8 months after he took office. No one could even imply that Clinton might have been incompotent in the 90's on handling our threats. Sorry, this one is all on Obama! he's been in office 18 months, he should have been able to stop this. Bush is gone, you can't blame him anymore.
The "Drill Here Drill Now" & "Drill Baby Drill" mentality is to blame and those who supported that share in that blame.
Everyone who drives an SUV, everyone who has no interest in "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" Everyone who ridicules alternative energy Shares in that. We can all do better, many of us try to all the time, the truly evil ones never try.
Do you need that bag at the store? Can you bring re-usable ones with you?
Can you buy larger sizes? Even re-filling them into smaller more manageble ones?
Do you pass on your magazines, or just read them online?
Do you filter your own water at home? Or buy plastic bottles that just get thrown away?
Think, Care about the world.
Use just one less bag a week and that is over 300,000,000 a weekor 15 BILLION a year in the US alone. It is about 300,000,000+ of use doing our part, and the sum of that can be huge.
To those who cannot see the Bush administration's complicity in this, Cheney's energy task force capitulated to oil companies' desires to remove the requirement for acoustic regulators to be employed in underwater drilling operations. An acoustic regulator acts as a "dead man's switch and could have prevented this disaster. BP still uses them voluntarily in British waters and are required by law to use them off the coast of Brazil and in Norway's North Sea operations. They cost approximately $500K per regulator, and the oil companies didn't want to pay the expense. The Minerals Management Service's 2003 study concluded that "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly." Bush's 2005 Energy Bill officially dropped the requirement for acoustic switch-off devices, explaining that the industry's existing practices are "failsafe" Well, we now know what failsafe means to oil companies and the politicians that take their cash.
So, there's THAT.
Right on, Taterwheel
Better yet, send the bill to Cheney, since he about owns Halliburton. Also, deregulation & the cozy relationship between inspectors & BP is what caused this ridiculous problem to begin with.
It's still Obama's mess now. That's just how it works. Bush got the blame for Katrina, Obama gets the blame for the oil spill. And by the way, are you so much a robot for one political party that you can't see that they are all in the pockets of big oil, Dems and the GOP?
I agree with Adrian. obama has done ABSOULUTY NOTHING. I bet he like ohh its oil i think we should sit around and wait for people to clean it. its to messy ew i dont want to touch it. ewww. Pffft. People thought Obama was samrt. Pfft. Hahaha i think thats funny.
You did not just say that?
It is not the birds fault, it is the humans to fault; why shuld the birds be executed? Regardless of their chance of recovery wether it be 100% - .001% they deserve to have that chance. I feel that BP executives should be out on the beach either cleaning the birds persoanlly or paying someone to clean them. It would be a job that would probably and unfortunately last for years to come.
I seem to remember Dawn soap running commercials on how their product removed the oil from penguins and other birds during the Exxon Valdez disaster. I think it's time to put their money where their mouth is and see if they can do it again. Or, was it really a clever marketing ploy for Dawn? Step up to the plate Dawn.
reply to MIke-Dawn does donate their dish soap to help clean these animals. they also donate a portion of the proceeds from the products consumers purchase to the oil clean up process.
What do you think is clean the birds?? don't you watch the news??
If they were oil coated humans what would we do? Would we even waiver from trying too save them? Why would any other living being be different? Saving as many lives is our duty and we owe it to the animals affected by this disaster. They are suffereing 10 times more than any human is right now.
Clean them