animal blog

11/25/11: today with my guinea pig it was an animal day so what i did was i changed her cage and made sure that she had fresh bedding and newspaper in the bottom of the cage. i also made sure that i gave her fresh water and fresh food so that my guinea pig would be more happy.
11/29/11: today is Tuesday and i just got back from thanksgiving vacation and i had the guinea pig at my house for the whole break while she was there i took her out of her cage occasionally and let her run around for exercise i also tried to make sure that she had fresh food and water the whole time.
12/5/11: today is Monday and we just had our animal day and today i foucused on making sure my guinea pigs cage was clean and i also tried giving her different food to see if she liked it more than her regular food that i give her every day she seemed to like it but i havnt figured out yet if she likes the new food better than the older food.

BP Oil and How It Affects Killer Whales and their Ecosystems

Can you imagine being a Killer Whale trying to come up for air and having your blow-hole covered with thick black oil that eventually causes you to suffocate? How about watching as other animals get covered and killed because of the “accidents” we have going on worldwide? As you read this blog, I would like you to ask yourself these questions.

Worldwide we have about 10,000 tons of oil spilled according to a 1990’s study. Also, Oil Spills are one of the many reasons these magnificent creatures, the Killer Whales have become endangered over the past few years. There are many types of animals being affected by this daily including the whales food chain. Not only can the whales die from having the oil in their blow-hole, they can also die from ingesting fish that swam through it. Not only does it eat the fish, but also the oil causing it to eventually die.

The extinction of the Killer Whale would also have some consequences of its own. The whales food chain which mostly consists of cetaceans (mammals best adapted to aquatic life) may be affected due to the rapid population growth resulting from the extinction of the whales. This would then trigger a domino effect in the ecosystem in which it lived.

The amount of money and time it takes to clean up an oil spill would also be a major issue. Take the 1989 Exxon Valdez that spilled 11,000,000 gallons of oil on the coastline of Prince William Sound in Alaska for example. It took approximately 10,000+ workers, countless amounts of boats and planes including the Navy, Army, and Air Force costing $2.1 million dollars in clean-up.

Imagine all those animals that suffer from one oil spill and the millions of gallons of oil spilled annually, then think of how many more animals are going to have to suffer due to careless mistakes. Only we can take a stand to prevent this from happening anymore.


References:

• Picture: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/images/081117-killer-whales-sonar_big.jpg

• http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Marine-Mammals/Whales-Dolphins-Porpoise/Killer-Whales/

• http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/topic_subtopic_entry.php?RECORD_KEY%28entry_subtopic_topic%29=entry_id,subtopic_id,topic_id&entry_id%28entry_subtopic_topic%29=700&subtopic_id%28entry_subtopic_topic%29=8&topic_id%28entry_subtopic_topic%29=1

• http://www.eoearth.org/article/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill?topic=58075
  

The BP oil spill has affected many people in the gulf, especially the fishing industry. What are the three main species that were affected? The three main types of living species in the gulf that were affected were the commercial fish, shrimp, and crab. Before the oil spill there were 2650 jobs lost because of the economy and now since the oil spill there has been 1325 more jobs lost in just the fishing industry because many fish have died. Also before the oil spill there were 68 million dollars lost because of the economy and now since the oil spill there has been another 38 million dollars lost because people can not fish anymore. The four states that were effected because of the BP oil spill are Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Lastly how is the fishing industry improving since the BP oil spill? Well not much has improved, the fishing is still below average and may be like this for the next few years.

How Much Did All This Cost?

On April 20, 2010 an oil ridge in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, leaking gallons by the million at first, and then thousands leaked out everyday after that. With so many regulations that off shore drilling is suppose to follow, how could this happen? Of all other oil ridges off the coasts of this country and other countries why did this happen to BP? Could be that.. BP tried to go around all possible regulations saving millions of dollars doing so? The main cause of the explosion is that the blow-out preventers were not working properly. Every fourteen days these blow-out preventors are suppose to be tested, BP decided that every thirty-five days would be good enough, doing it this way has saved them, 193 million dollars a year alone. Upon only testing them less often, the blow-out preventors have failed multiple times during each test. So not only did they test them less but they also failed each time. With BP trying to go around the US regulations for drilling, what was the costs they ended up be dishing out during the spill?

The cost that BP had to spend in fines alone were around 5 billion. BP also paid the gulf states for the lost of income the local communities had to live with due to the spill. The oil spill made many fisheries along the coast of Florida unable to function due the oil contaminating the water that is used to filter the fisheries. The local economy of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were impacted by the decrease in tourism the following summer of the spill. Also the spill caused the water to contaminate many sources of seafood used to help the income of the local states in the golf. Since the spill caused a decrease in income, BP helped repay the people infected. Florida was paid $25 million to help promote the uncontaminated beaches. Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi were paid $78 million dollars to help repay the lost income to the area. BP had to pay back a total of 102 billion dollars due to the spill.

As bad as this was to the local economies and to the environment, this spill created jobs in place of the jobs lost. Locals could get paid from helping to clean up the oil that was coming to shore, clean off the ducks and other birds that were getting covered in the oil. The people hired to find the reason for the spill also created jobs. So, as bad as the spill was to everyone, some good still came out of it. The local economy that realies on fishing and seafood industries are already starting to come back and begin to bring in a steady income.

References:

• Picture link: http://www.shoppingblog.com/pics/bp_oil_spill_image_skimmers.jpg
• "Obama Will Seek BP Oil Spill Fines To Restore Gulf Coast According To White House Official." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .
• Before BP oil spill, Big Oil-led study urged feds to cut safety testing - CSMonitor.com . (n.d.). The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com . Retrieved April 11, 2011, from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0602/Before-BP-oil-spill-Big-Oil-led-study-urged-feds-to-cut-safety-testing

Restaurants and Business affected by bp spill

The BP oil spill has caused great damage to the waters and animals, and has even caused a lot of damage to business's and seafood supplies.
Many big corporate business's have laid off many workers due to the oil spill. Many workers have said that the amount of product and production coming through has been minimized dramatically. Usually about 1 billion dollars is coming through seafood companies every year, now they have a less employees and less money, and even less buyers now since restaurants have put signs on there windows saying the don't sell gulf seafood.

The seafood industry has had a lot of problems since the oil spill. Thirty-two percent of the fishing comes from the Gulf. The seafood restaurant's prices for shrimp have gone up because of this, and the restaurants are turning to shrimp farms. But yet 83 percent of the seafood we eat is imported and the prices go up because of the oil spill.

Sea Turtles and Kelp Burning

Burning sea turtles and kelp is one of the horrible consequences of trying to clean up the tragic BP Oil spill.  When BP workers went out to try and clean up the oil spill, they thought it would be a good idea to burn up the oil to get rid of it quickly, but what they didn't know was all the burning they did killed sea turtles and destroyed entire kelp fields that feed aquatic life.  If just the sea turtles alone were being burned then it wouldn't be that bad, but now that the kelp is being burned, that is affecting a lot more aquatic species because the kelp is their food source.  To stop the burning of the oil, many people living on the coast and protesting and contacting BP to tell them to stop.

I think that the most effective way to stop the burning of turtles is to directly contact the people doing the burning and tell them to stop.  With out direct confrontation, none of the people who are burning the turtles and kelp will change their ways.  The people must speak out and protest these inhumane killings!

Flickr user praziquantel

How is the local jobs and economy being effected after the BP oil spill?

Since the oil spill has occurred there has been unrest in the gulf area. People losing their jobs and their money. The people of the gulf want a resolution to give them back their jobs and to start earning their money.

The economy in the region has taken a major hit, and one would think that the national economy has also taken a substantial hit, but you would be wrong. Even with the tourism industry in the mix, the region is only contributing 1% of the total national economy. So in short the nation economy is still were it was before the spill.

One of the most obvious things that has happened due to the oil spill is the lose of the fishing jobs in the gulf. But the fishing industry isn't the only thing that went under. The tourism industry was virtually demolished if you look at it as a whole not at individual places. And to my surprise the gulf tremendous shipping industry has been little affected if any, that is because the oil hasn't drifted into the shipping lanes.

People have probably heard by now that BP has taken the responsiblity and have paid for the clean up effort. BP has recruited the fisherman and the other people affected by the oil spill to help with the clean up in an effort to help the people with the money they have lost. With these people BP has created over 20,000 jobs to clean up the beaches and the gulf.

With all the money being spent by BP one might ask where is it all going. Is it all going to the clean up? Or are there other things that BP is paying for? BP has given the majority of the money to the states most affected by the oil spill in efforts to pay for the lack of the tourism industry. However some of the money has ended up in places where it shouldn't end up. It has somehow ended up in the small towns not affected by the oil and in personal gains. Certain high ranking people are using the money to buy electronics that have no relationship with the BP oil spill clean up efforts.

All of the money being spent raises questions about how much money has been loss by certain companies and businesses. In recent estimates BP has loss over $1.6 billion, but some analysts estimate over $37 billion. The local businesses anywhere from $4 billion to $11 billion, and $1.4 billion in the tourism industry.

Is BP oil spill effecting tourism in the Yucatan Peninsula?

Summer is right around the corner and for many families, that means a summer vacation. One popular place for vacationers is Cancun, Mexico. Cancun is a place that is known for its great tourist attractions including beaches. However, the BP oil spill is affecting many travel destinations in the Gulf of Mexico and travelers may be asking whether or not the spill has affected Cancun.

The answer to this question is no, BP's oil spill has not effected Cancun in any way. Instead of the oil making its way down south towards Cancun and other popular locations in Mexico, it is moving east towards Europe. This is because there is a tide that goes from Mexico, all the way to Europe. This tide has prevented any oil from making its way to the Yucatan Peninsula.

Even though no to very little oil has made its way down to the Yucatan Peninsula, travel to this location has gotten cheaper. People are fearful that the beaches are covered in oil and dead animals from the spill. This fear is causing travel agencies to lower their prices in order to maintain business like before the spill. So far, the city has lost very little money due to the spill.

This would be the perfect time to trip to the beautiful city of Cancun, Mexico. Travel is cheaper, and many other popular tourist attractions in the Gulf of Mexico are not as lucky to remain the same after the spill as before. If one is looking for a vacation in the Gulf, Cancun is the place to go.

Possible Extinction of Dwarf Seahorses

The next few paragraphs will explain how the oil spill has effected the dwarf seahorses.

A dwarf seahorse ONLY lives in the gulf of mexico, so when the spill occured it had a drastic impact on the seahorses. The seahorses mostly live in seaweed mats which is where the crude from the oil spill has started to cling to. During the clean up efforts they would set fire to the seaweed mats because they wanted to stop the oil from coming to the shore, which had also killed a large number of the seahorses, because they can't swim very fast it was hard for them to escape the fire.

You may think that they can reproduce and gain back the numbers of seahorses that have been killed because of this but, the seahorses mate for life which means that they don't produce a lot of seahorses and they invest a lot of energy into the offspring that they do produce. So the oil spill has had a major impact on the whole seahorse population, and will continue to.

As of right now the seahorses are listed as endangered. If there habitats are continually burned and destroyed they may become extinct. There has been a few petitions that have been spread around to stop the burning of the seaweed mats but nothing has really taken effect.

Seagulls are being effected by the BP oil spill in The Gulf of Mexico! Even though sea gulls don't live in they water, many are still being killed throughout the day. People ask, how are seagulls dying from the disaster? Well, that's simple, sea gulls use the water to bath, drink, and sometimes they like to relax in it as well. When a seagull swoops down from the sky to recieve their food, they are also getting the oil in the water with their food. Of course, sea gulls are usually annoying when you go to the beach, but no one would ever want them to die because of the oil. Stopping this terrible thing, seems pretty impossible, but it need to end.

Dolphins Being Affected By Oil Spill

Dolphins are a big animal life near the gulf and the oil has an affect on the way that they live. Ways that this affects them is that all of the animals that are in the gulf so whatever animals are under the food chain from dolphins like all the different kinds of fish and some of the plants under water are contaminated with oil and can be deadly for the dolphin to eat. Ways that the oil can cause them to die is when the oil spreads in the water and the dolphins swims through it the oil then gets on their body and when the oil is on their body it can work its way to the inside of the body and cause an infection which could make them die. Also, some people believe that the oil is not the reason why they are dieing its the fact that the water is getting colder and its to cold for them to be able to live in. The oil spill affects dolphins because of the fact that they live in water as long as the oil remains in the water it will continue to effect all of the animals that are around it. The oil affects the inside of the dolphins because of the fact that it can get inside there bodies and cause some sort of infection or anything else inside the body that could wind up killing them. The amount of time it takes for the oil to kill the dolphins is unknown it would be depending on how much oil is in the area that there living in and the size and age of the dolphins in the affected areas. But, some people believe that the oil does not kill them at all. Most likely the oil has to have some bad effect on them and defiantly is not helping them stay alive.

How Brown Pelicans are Affected by the BP Oil Spill

Many different species have been affected by the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. One of these species is the Brown Pelican, which is Louisiana's state bird. The oil affects the Brown Pelican species in many ways. Even a small amount of oil can kill birds because it hampers their ability to regulate their body temperature. How? When oil covers the animals, it produces open holes in the vital barrier that feathers produce. With the barrier compromised, water can seep in against the birds’ skin and heat loss can occur.

Because of the oil spill, the Brown Pelicans are having problems with their breeding cycle. The Brown Pelicans have a very low reproductive rate already, and the BP oil spill has had a serious effect on their breeding cycle. They breed along the Gulf coast, where many nest on the barrier islands off Louisiana that have already been exposed to oil. Their population is rapidly decreasing because of the oil spill.

Not only has the oil spill affected the Brown Pelican's mating, but it has also affected its' diet. It is particularly at risk because it dives beneath the water's surface to forage. After it snatches its prey and water along with it, it tips its bill downward to drain the water before swallowing the fish. This method of diving is dangerous because not only could pelicans eat tainted fish and feed it to their young, but their feathers could become oil-soaked, causing hypothermia or drowning. Many pelicans have died because of this disaster.

Biologists say oil has covered at least 300-400 pelicans in the largest seabird nesting area along the Louisiana coast. Across the Gulf, about 3,000 killed or oil covered birds have been collected by wildlife agencies since the drilling rig exploded last year. The exact death rate is hard to determine because surviving pelicans may die later on when their weak bodies give in to the damaging effects of the oil.

What is being done to rescue and clean the oil-covered pelicans, you may ask? Not many brown pelicans are covered in oil from the spill. (Most have died right away at sea or on land). Those that are coated in oil are covered with vegetable oil to loosen up the crude oil before being cleaned with dish washing soap. The pelicans are also given water and electrolytes to keep them hydrated while being cleaned. Those that may have swallowed oil can be given coal or indigestion medication to reduce the amount of oil absorbed by their digestive system.

Brown Pelicans have been deeply affected by the BP oil spill. Hopefully more pelicans are rescued over time. Maybe some day the Brown Pelican population will increase once again!

-Krishna Gajera & Mckenzie Latta

Where has the oil gone?

Two hundred million gallons of oil was released during the bp oil spill. Of that two hundred million gallons only 11 million gallons were recovered by burning the oil or by using a fire boom. The skimmers and shallow water equipment picked up a lot of the oil from the water. (update number unknown) Later, 1.84 million gallons of dispersant was added. Scientists did this because the oil would be changed into smaller droplets of oil. Four months after the oil spill, which was the end of July, 167 million gallons of oil was still unaccounted for. They had no idea where the location of the oil was.
Picture from: http://bpoilspillfacts.net/

Scientists still are very clueless about where the oil has gone. They think that a lot of the oil has went to Mid-Ocean. Other than that they think that the rest of the oil has been reabsorbed by the Gulf. Scientists are still very clueless on how this happened. This is what the scientists think has happened to the oil but they are still not sure.

A lot of people think, Why can't scientists find the oil? Well, many scientists think that some of the oil was put into the air and contaminated the air. Another thing that the scientists think is that the oil mixed with the 1.8 million gallons of the chemical dispersant that was put into the water. While the dispersant was put into the water they think that the dispersant created underwater clouds. Scientists then worried about the dispersant threatening seafood. To check that the seafood was good the FDA did a lot of tests. After they checked the seafood they found out that the seafood would not threaten the health of any human.

By Tyler and Joe

bp oil and sport fish By Eddie

The oil spill caused all types of problems for sport fish and fishers. One problem is that big tortements that they normal have each year are closed. After careful evaluation of the oil and review of the most current NOAA Federal Fisheries Closure Area, Tournament Officials have determined that the Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic cannot be held this year. Captain Dave Lear, outdoor writer and editor, fishing guide and former executive director of The Billfish Foundation said “Even though the oil is still more than 150 miles away and our current fishing conditions are normal, people don't want to spend their vacation watching oil and tar balls washing up on the beach.” The oil leak might not affect this current tarpon, redfish, snook, and other saltwater gamefish seasons, but what has many worried is how the oils and toxins will affect these species throughout their life cycle in the Gulf. We don’t know how it will effect them, both the adult fish and the larvae. Once tarpon leave Florida, they go to the northern part of the Gulf and feed on shrimp and other smaller species—that is smack in the middle of the oil. There might not be any food for them once they get there. Tarpon is just one example, there are similar issues with cobia, amberjack, tuna, and a host of other species.”While some beaches and inshore fishing areas may be spared from direct contact with the oil, the secondary effects may be the ones that recreational anglers need to fear the most. As shocking as the images coming from the Gulf are, with oil-soaked pelicans and green marshlands turned brown, the real threat to these popular species could be in the subsurface oil.More than a 25 percent of America’s saltwater fishing takes place in Florida. Half of that is under direct threat from the oil that continues to leak off the coast of Louisiana. And no one knows just how bad it’s going to be.

Sharks Affected by the BP Oil Spill

There are many marine life animals affected by the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
One animal, being one of the most affected, was the shark. The Whale Shark to be more precise.
The whale shark is the largest shark in the Gulf of Mexico and they consume large amounts of water when they go to take in their food.If there is oil in the water, obviously the sharks are taking in an unhealthy amount of oil into their body.

Furthermore the sharks were affected within the food chain due to the oil. The food chain starts with plants when they can't make their own food due to the oil blocking their ways of using photosynthesis. Also fish get oil stuck into their gills. Then this chain works its way up to bigger fish like sharks. Sadly sharks will have less food due to plants and fish dieing off.

Not only does the oil spill affect the supply of food that the sharks are able to get, but also their digestive system when they are able to get food. Currently, marine biologists are researching if the sharks remaining in the Gulf of Mexico have problems with their reproductive systems and digestive systems. They are doing this by taking blood and tissue samples from sharks in the areas from which most oil was spilled. Sometimes they tag certain sharks for future research.

In conclusion, sharks in the Gulf of Mexico were affected in several ways. They were affected within the food chain and now could possibly suffer from reproductive and digestive system problems.

-By, Sarah Easley and Shalyn Warfel