Celeste Chow

An oil spill is the release of liquid petroleum hydrocarbon in the environment.  Recently, there has been an oil spill here in the waters of the gulf of mexico, which is my home. The leak is currently releasing 5,000 barrels of oil everyday. On April 20, the Deep Water Horizon exploded and sank, leading to this tremendous oil spill.  The Coast guard is putting up containment booms to help contain the spill and they hope to burn the oil away, but weather and ecological concerns can complicate this procedure.  Also, such burning only works if the oil is thick enough.   Recently, I have been terribly effected by the oil spill.  The oil spill has left me covered in oil, leaving it hard for me to fly.  I am now less buoyant in the water and now that it is harder to fly there is less of a chance that I will get away from predators.  The oil that covers my feathers is ingested into me and this can cause kidney damage, altered liver function, and digestive tract irritation for me.  I have become fore dehydrated and my metabolism has become unbalanced.  There is not a great chance of me surviving.  If the oil spill is not contained soon enough, this could be the worst oil spill in history.