WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – A new report finds that more sea turtles were killed or injured in the Gulf of Mexico in the months following the BP oil spill than in any similar period during the past two decades.
While the report suggested many of the 600 turtles were hurt by the spill, it’s still not clear exactly how many died from ingesting the crude or how many drowned in fishing nets. The sea turtles could have also been killed by cold weather or injured by other factors unrelated to the spill.
The report says the rate of dead, disabled and diseased sea turtles discovered in the months following the massive April 20 spill was four to six times above average. The analysis was done by the National Wildlife Federation, the Sea Turtle Conservancy and the Florida Wildlife Federation.
