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Hundreds of baby penguins found dead in Brazil

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posted on Jul, 21 2008 @ 10:49 AM
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More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio. Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.

Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.

Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."

Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore.

Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.

source


So, it either overfishing, or pollution. That's just great. They even threw in global warming as a possible cause.

If the US decides to open up offshore drilling, I hope we use better methods than the Brazilians are employing in the Campos oil field off their shores.



posted on Jul, 21 2008 @ 11:49 AM
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The sad thing is that the US has at least one rig in Campos Basin to my knowledge. Devon, a US based company, owns at least one rig there and started their operations only last year. This could be part of the problem? Shell also has rigs in the Campos area but I THINK (don't quote me on this) that they are onshore rigs.

This is a MS Word document.
commercecan.ic.gc.ca...$file/X_1406287.DOC



posted on Jul, 21 2008 @ 11:53 AM
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reply to post by Scurvy
 


I was unaware the US had any drilling interests in the Brazilian offshore fields. Thanks for sharing that.



posted on Jul, 21 2008 @ 12:06 PM
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I wasn't positive myself actually, I knew Shell had some interests in Brazil but I wasn't too sure on the Campos Basin. In that link there is a short list of all the international companies with shares in at least one rig.

There was a large scale explosion on one of Petrobas' rigs in 2001 but I would imagine that in the last 7 years that has been cleaned up and wouldn't affect this year's round of penguins.

One more example of human greed and self-service. Disgusting. The worst part is that those companies directly responsible wouldn't dream of paying the costs of preservation or health care for those they harm. Those costs are dropped on the good souls of the zoological societies and veterinarians.



posted on Jul, 21 2008 @ 12:38 PM
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reply to post by Scurvy
 


Your last statement is unfortunately very true. Predatory capitalism backed by corporate leveraged governments has become the bane of the modern world.

[edit on 21-7-2008 by Icarus Rising]



posted on Jul, 21 2008 @ 12:44 PM
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With the Antarctic ice caps and shelves melting, it also causes currents and tides which wash away food sources from the coastal areas which the penguins have used for centuries and forcing them to swim out so far they cannot possibly swim back.

I mentioned this on a thread yesterday as well, considered doing a thread but just couldn't bring myself to do the homework on it, I LOVE penguins.

Thank you.



posted on Jul, 21 2008 @ 01:11 PM
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reply to post by antar
 


There is something about penguins that just draws you to them, isn't there? It is very sad to think of those little ones being driven by hunger, and getting too far from home to make it back.

It also serves as a sobering metaphor for the direction modern society is headed these days.



posted on Jul, 21 2008 @ 02:34 PM
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Originally posted by Icarus Rising

It also serves as a sobering metaphor for the direction modern society is headed these days.


I could not agree more with this statement. Very well put.




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