Hold BP Responsible for Mass Dolphin Deaths

Immediately following the BP oil spill, sixty-seven bottlenose dolphins washed up on the Gulf of Mexico beaches. More than half, 35, were babies. That was the first calving season following the spill, and normally just one or two are found. That is 10 times the normal rate.

And health problems continue. Dolphin strandings remain abnormally high in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. About 1,000 dolphins live in Barataria Baywhich which recieved heavy and prolonged exposure to oil. Typically, 20 strandings a year is normal; but 180 strandings were reported 6 months following the spill.

Out of 32 dolphins tested by NOAA, they found problems like drastically low weight, abnornally low hormone levels, low blood sugar and, in some cases, cancer of the liver and lungs.

Charge BP with animal cruelty, or environment crimes, at least. Their quest for profit has killed thousands of animals, in the air, land and sea. It is criminal that their business has destroyed an American ecosystem. It is at least harrassment that dolphins cannot breed normally and are protected under the Marine Protection Act.