Heavy bird casualties from Estonian oil spill
News
01 Mar 2006 - 18 Jan 2016
An oil spill off the northwestern coast of Estonia has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of sea birds, including sea gulls and long-tailed ducks. Carcasses of 800 have already been found. Estonian Environment Minister Villu Reiljan believes that more than 5000 birds may have died. Estonian border guards have patrolled the coastal waters, but have not been able to identify where the oil leak may have come from, although the birds were coated in thick oil, which officials said was probably discharged by a tanker as it passed Estonia last week. According to the Head of the Environment Centre of Western Estonia, heavy winds have made it difficult to pinpoint the origin of the oil. Volunteers from World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) associate organization, Estonian Fund for Nature, have been helping local authorities clean up several kilometres of an oil-stained shoreline, as well as save birdlife. Some oilstained wildlife has also been detected on the southwestern coast of Finland, but no oil slicks have been seen there. WWF-Finland has sent oil combating equipment to help with the clean-up efforts in Estonia and is ready. In May 2006, WWF-Finland will offer a training course on washing and caring for oil-stained birds. Some 3500 volunteers have registered as oil combat troops, with over 300 trained personnel from WWF-Norway and Russia, and WWF Arctic Programme have also established voluntary oil-combating troops based on the Finnish model to help if local authorities ask for additional assistance. According to local authorities, any one of around 100 oil tankers could have been behind the slick, and it is highly unlikely the ship responsible for the damage to the environment will be found.
Related Topics: Baltic Sea LME
