17 dead baby dolphins found on Gulf beaches
February 23rd, 2011 - 7:27 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattAlabama, Feb 23 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Observers say the number of baby dolphins that are washed ashore dead has gone up 10 times since the BP oil spill.
The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies has announced that 17 dead baby dolphins have been found along the Alabama and Mississippi shoreline in the last two weeks. The numbers have shocked the officials of the institute.
The institute’s director, Moby Solangi, told reporters that, “The average is one or two a month. This year we have 17, and February isn’t even over yet… For some reason, they’ve started aborting or they were dead before they were born.”
Necropsy has been performed on the mammals and the results are expected to be released very soon. The institute promises that they would make the cause of death public.
Even before the report of the necropsy could be out, Solangi is speculating that the BP spill might have played a role in what is happening now. Death of adult dolphins has also gone up. According to the data that is available, averagely about 30 dolphins died each year. However that number almost tripled when 89 dolphins died last year.
The BP disaster last year happened at the breeding season of the mammals. Dolphins normally breed between March and April. The Deepwater Horizon disaster happened on the 20th of April.
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Tags: 20th of april, adult, bp, bp oil spill, cause of death, dead baby, disaster, dolphins, gulf beaches, horizon, mammals, marine mammal, marine mammal studies, mississippi, moby solangi, necropsy, observers, shoreline