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TAKING SCIENTIFIC ADVANTAGE OF A DISASTROUS OIL SPILL
Citation:
Haebler, R, D B. Horowitz, AND E. A. Miller. TAKING SCIENTIFIC ADVANTAGE OF A DISASTROUS OIL SPILL. Presented at 4th Annual Meeting of the Waterbird Society, Plymouth, MA, November 1-5, 2000.
Description:
On 19 January 1996, the North Cape barge ran aground on Moonstone Beach in southern Rhode Island, releasing 828,000 gallons of refined oil. This opportunistic study was designed to take scientific advantage of the most severely affected seabird, the common loon (Gavia immer) . As a result of the spill, 53 common loons from a single overwintering population became available for extensive pathological study. These animals were recovered alive, but all except one eventually died during rehabilitation efforts which extended from 20 January 1996 until 20 February 1996. Antemortem medical data, gross necropsies, and histopathological studies were conducted. Our studies focused on 1) evaluating the health status of affected loons; 2) assessing special risks to loons from oil exposure and captivity; 3) characterizing secondary fungal aspergillosis infection- incidence, progression, and severity in relationship to time in captivity; and 4) comparing health status between these affected loons and mortalities in New England and Canada. Though this environmental event resulted in the tragic deaths of many animals, it also provided the rare opportunity to examine a large number of birds from a single population. We found that: 1) they appeared to have been generally healthy prior to oil exposure; 2) they responded poorly to rehabilitation; 3) secondary aspergillosis infections were the leading cause of death; and 4) the incidence of background disease processes such as parasitism differed between this population and loon mortalities from New England.