Giant Oil Leak Threatens Wildlife in the Gulf

Posted by NG Kids in Green Scene on May 6, 2010
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A massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening the wildlife and may spread all the way to North Carolina. The oil slick began to spread soon after the April 20 explosion. Eleven people died and the oil continues to pour out of leaks about 5,000 feet (1524 meters) deep. Experts think as much as 5,000 barrels of oil are leaking into the water every day–that’s about 210,000 gallons  (795,000 liters) of oil.

Animals like this dead Portuguese man-of-war (pictured) are beginning to be affected by the oil pollution.

Officials now plan to cover three leaks at the bottom of the ocean with a large box to contain the oil, which is now spreading closer to sensitive coastal marshes and wildlife breeding grounds along Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Alabama.

Photograph by Alex Brandon, AP

Tags: , , , ,
Categories: Pollution

Comments

  1. cody banks
    May 7, 2010, 7:59 am

    it is nasty

  2. moob7
    May 7, 2010, 6:07 pm

    oooo! Ouch!

  3. panda3411
    May 7, 2010, 10:09 pm

    this is a horrorable thing to have happened. i hope it does not leave the same effect the exon spill did.

  4. cam882
    May 8, 2010, 2:06 pm

    aw!thats so sad. i hope everyone and everything effected will be okay!

  5. zxcvbnm7447
    May 8, 2010, 3:00 pm

    Very horrible but, you gotta wonder was this and accident, or did somebody do this on pupose?

  6. cheops911
    May 8, 2010, 9:41 pm

    OOOOOH! That’s really bad. that is all my teachers have been talking about. I had to see turtles dead up on the beach in a photo! i hope they fix it soon or i’m gonna myself!

  7. Aria10
    May 8, 2010, 9:50 pm

    And just think there are other ainmals that are dead because of oil spills.

  8. Anonymous
    May 9, 2010, 8:09 am

    ;-(

  9. Anonymous
    May 10, 2010, 8:36 am

    no Pollution alowede!!!

  10. renaval
    May 10, 2010, 7:28 pm

    Thats really sad. I wish they would find a way to stop it. Many sea animals that are precious to the food chain are dyiing because of this. I don’t understand why they cant close the leak. I’m sure its like pitch black and really deep but I think they could manipulate a robot down there.

  11. yellow
    May 10, 2010, 9:23 pm

    I can’t believe it my grandma helped a duck in a oil spill and it didn’t look gross. Poor little something. Hey what kind of animal is it any way?

  12. yellow
    May 10, 2010, 9:29 pm

    Ow. That would hurt…………..

  13. MZ.EDHARDY
    May 11, 2010, 11:50 am

    OMG!OMG!OMG! AWWWW MAN HOPE OUT FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE ANIMAL OMG!

  14. jjwaddle
    May 11, 2010, 7:50 pm

    It is bad for animal.What made it happen or who?

  15. shastasteph
    May 11, 2010, 7:51 pm

    I feel so bad for all the wildlife and habitat being affected. All of this wouldn’t have happened if the dumb oil company hadn’t neglected the job of hitting the pumping pipe. Because it is really cold at that depth in the ocean, the oil froze into tar and got backed up. Now, all that oil is leaking out since the pipe is stuck! If nature gets heavily destroyed, especially the delicate Florida everglades, I hope they ban oil drilling in the Gulf.

  16. haiti18
    May 12, 2010, 12:48 pm

    they better get that oil out of the gulf before we never eat fish ever again.

  17. Anonymous
    May 13, 2010, 11:24 am

    cool

  18. sammy
    May 13, 2010, 4:03 pm

    what is that

  19. sammy
    May 13, 2010, 4:06 pm

    that looks said

  20. tigergirl2224
    May 13, 2010, 7:49 pm

    what bums me out is that this could’ve been prevented because the company knew that the oil driller was broken.

  21. bluestar1010
    May 13, 2010, 8:24 pm

    I now I realy hope soon It will stop leaking!!!

  22. Anonymous
    May 14, 2010, 10:26 am

    whoever did this, i hate them!

  23. MissBelle225718
    May 16, 2010, 9:42 am

    Ther is a way now to help stop this!I saw it on the news! You can donate rubber and hair to different places and they make mats that help stop the oil!

  24. leesyjane
    May 19, 2010, 12:29 pm

    that’s terrible! :(

  25. Isabella
    May 21, 2010, 5:03 pm

    Thats SO sad:(
    Its been on the news all the time here in NZ.
    I really hope that we can stop it in time before it becomes even more of a disaster than it already is.

  26. PurpleAnimalLUV
    June 4, 2010, 7:26 pm

    I know this has been happening for a while but yesterday, I saw the birds and fish on T.V. yesterday and I almost started to cry. I am so mad about this whole thing. Just cap it, close it, and get it out of the water.

  27. hagen
    June 7, 2010, 4:47 pm

    how sad i hear all about it in sixth grade and im hoping that this will get fixed now before i explode thinking about the people and animals this will affect im so sorry 4 them i live in texas and it soposivly was soposed to come towards me in galveston and now feel so bad i hear about it going to (:

  28. saamir11
    June 10, 2010, 2:05 pm

    they need to fix this they are just killin these fish and animals :( :{ :[

  29. georgia girl
    June 11, 2010, 5:48 pm

    the portuguese man of war can kill you and it can really hurt you really bad but when need to help instead of killing the animals and make the earth a better place everybody should care about the animals i bet they will be exstinct soon if we never stop polluting the world all of Gods creations are dieing so help because i am with animals!!!!

  30. chexmix
    June 15, 2010, 8:40 pm

    hi did u know there was an oil spil a long time ago by alaska and now if u turn over a rock there is still oil. This one is 3 times bigger so it will last a long time.
    by,
    chexmix

  31. tglg
    June 16, 2010, 10:26 pm

    bp keeps lying about how much oil is coming out thet only tell u 3/4 of the oil coming out. theyre liers

  32. 19bean99
    June 17, 2010, 1:42 pm

    I feel bad for the animals that live in the Gulf of Mexico.)=

  33. whale lover
    June 18, 2010, 6:30 pm

    I have been watching the news FOREVER to see what they are doing about it.I love wildlife and I don’t want to see defenceless animals get covered in oil.What did mother nature do to us?

  34. cutiprincess
    June 21, 2010, 10:29 am

    I posted a comment on the other article about the BP oil spill, I live that article very much and you should read that as well for an update on the oil spill, it gives a bit more information on the topic than this one does.

  35. Peachy
    July 6, 2010, 8:29 am

    This is so terrible! I wish this never happened! All those poor animals, and families who have lost loved ones…:(

  36. blogqueen33
    August 18, 2010, 8:05 am

    what is that?

  37. blogqueen33
    August 18, 2010, 8:07 am

    but whatever it is it look nasty

  38. sonickyle1797
    February 9, 2011, 10:16 am

    Glad I moved away from Florida

  39. Purple Girl
    March 12, 2011, 7:51 pm

    Very sad…. but does anone know what it is??? Is it a dolphin? Or sea food??

  40. boots
    April 12, 2011, 1:56 pm

    wonder what that little blue thing it is,and how big it really is?

  41. Isabella
    January 18, 2012, 4:35 pm

    It’s awful i know. i hate the person who did it.

  42. Isabella
    January 18, 2012, 4:36 pm

    What’s that blue thing? Is it a jelly fish?

  43. winners27
    April 24, 2012, 3:38 am

    That poor animal!!!!!!!!!!!!!I see how the box can keep the oil from spreading, but what about the wildlife that’s inside the box? And are you ever going to try to get the oil out of the ocean?I usually put statements and suggestions to make that problem better but, I’m stumped and that animal in the picture is unrecognizable. We should just get the oil out of the water, if they do do that box thing, nothing is perfect forever.

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