Fears for Wildlife over Oil Spill
bbc.co.uk
24 Jan 2007
Hundreds of seabirds have been found covered in oil that's spilled from a grounded ship off the coast of Devon.
About 200 tonnes of oil have leaked from the MSC Napoli's engine room since it ran onto the beach at Branscombe after heavy storms last week. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said at least 900 guillemots and 200 gulls had been affected, with some found up to 25 miles away, near Torbay. It said it was worried the oil spill could have a serious long term
impact. The RSPCA animal charity said it had also been flooded with calls from people who'd seen birds struggling on beaches from Devon to Dorset.
The bodies of three dolphins and a porpoise have also been washed ashore in the area but environmental officials said they couldn't be sure if their deaths were related to the oil spill. Work is continuing to pump 3,500 tonnes of fuel oil from the ship at a rate of 30 tonnes an hour. Branscombe beach, where hundreds of people gathered to pick up items that had fallen overboard, has now been closed to the public. The shoreline was left covered in rubbish by the scavengers and coastguards said it may take weeks to clear up.
Lead-tainted Squirrel Triggers State Warning
northjersey.com
25 Jan 2007
Barbara Williams
It's the state's first-ever such warning: Don't eat too much squirrel from the woods near Ford's toxic waste dumps in Upper Ringwood. Two months ago, a lead-contaminated squirrel was found there. The advisory was sent this week to neighborhood residents, who maintain a hunting culture. It said children shouldn't eat squirrel more than once a month; pregnant women more than twice a month and other adults not more than twice a week. Even in small amounts, lead can harm the nervous system, kidneys and red blood cell production and can affect reproduction and development.
"We've known for a long time something was wrong here, we just didn't know what it was," said resident Myrtle Van Dunk, a longtime hunter. "Now we know, but we're concerned about the people outside this area who come here to hunt. They don't know that the small game here is poisoned." The situation is so unique, the state has yet to set a standard for how much lead a human can safely ingest. This is the first time New Jersey has issued such an advisory.
Legal Bid to Ban Wildlife Poisons: Petition Cites Bio-Terrorist Threat and Loss of “Non-Target” Animals
peer.org
24 Jan 2007
Two of the most widely used poisons for killing wild mammals should be banned, according to a petition filed today with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by a coalition of conservation and public health groups. In their filing, the groups point to the potential bio-terrorism risks from widespread distribution of these highly lethal agents that have also caused inadvertent deaths of large numbers of wild and domestic animals as well as other environmental harms. The two targeted poisons are sodium cyanide capsules (used in M-44 ejectors) and sodium fluoroacetate (known as “Compound 1080”), a toxicant used in “livestock protection collars” strapped to the heads of sheep and goats. Both agents are classified by EPA as having the highest degree of “acute toxicity.”
Compound 1080 is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, water soluble toxin considered by several countries as a chemical weapon for its potential threat to water supplies. Compound 1080 has already been banned in California and Oregon but remains legal in eleven states. These poisons are distributed by an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, called Wildlife Services, which spend approximately $100 million per year aiding ranchers, farmers and special districts in killing wildlife, ranging from beavers to bears, deemed a nuisance. In 2004, the last year for which figures are available, Wildlife Services claimed to have eradicated 2.7 million animals, principally birds.
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