GRAND ISLE, Louisiana — Michael Seymour peers at the oiled pelican floating near an island of mangrove trees and winces in frustration because — once again — there’s absolutely nothing he can do to help.

An amber sheen has stained the pelican’s white head and brown chest and wings. But the oil isn’t thick enough to keep it from flying away if Seymour approaches.

“The only way to catch a bird in that condition is to chase it repeatedly until it gets tired,” says Seymour, an ornithologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

“We’re just going to be putting him under more stress than we need to.”

Oiled birds aren’t hard to find some 54 days after an explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig sparked the worst environmental catastrophe in US history.

~READ MORE HERE~

View Escape The Illusion's Profile      Subscribe via RSS